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Here’s an updated version of the characters at level 14.
Belessa Darkwave (NE Female Human Cleric Level 13/ Hierophant Level 1) – Worships Umberlee
Str: 16 Dex: 8 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 23 Cha: 14
AC: 29 HP: 103 Fortitude: +16 Reflex: +8 Will: +23
Initiative:-1 Speed: 20’
Melee attacks: +1 trident +13/+8 (1d8+4)
Cleric Domains: Ocean (water breathing 10 rounds/level/day), Storm (electricity resistance 5).
Height: 5’11”. Weight: 150 lbs, Age: 30, Date of birth: Eleasias 5, 1346
Long black hair, brown eyes, stunningly beautiful, wears a glamered armor that most often looks like either a deep blue plate armor adorned with shark motifs, or an elegant black gown. Wields a trident (glowing with a blue flame) and a large shield.
Feats: Combat Casting, Negotiator, Iron Will, Silent Spell, Spell Penetration, Craft Wondrous Items.
Skills: Bluff 9, Concentration 17, Diplomacy 26, Heal 8, Knowledge: History 4, Knowledge: Planes 4, Knowledge: Religion 14, Profession: Sailor 16, Sense Motive 17, Spellcraft 9, Spot 13, Swim -5.
Languages: Common, Chondathan, Orc, Abyssal, Olman.
Main gear: Darkwood Trident +1, Glamered Full Plate +4, Periapt of Wisdom +4, Ring of Sustenance, Necklace of Prayer Beads (Bless, Healing), Large Shield +4, Boots of Levitation, Rod of Lesser Silent Casting, Luckstone, Ring of Protection +2, Belt of Giant Strength +2, Onyx and Sapphire symbol of Umberlee worth 1000gp, Cloak of Resistance +4, Portable Hole.
= = = =
Raguhl (CG Male Lizardfolk Barbarian Level 12/ Totemic Demon Hunter Level 1) – Worships Gwynharwyf
Str: 27 Dex: 16 Con: 18 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 8
AC: 27 HP: 185 Fortitude: +18 Reflex: +13 Will: +10
Initiative: +3 Speed: 40’
Melee attacks: +2 holy greatsword +23/+18/+13 (2d6+14/17-20)
Ranged attacks: +1 mighty longbow +17/+12/+7 (1d8+6/x3)
Height: 6’10”. Weight: 420 lbs, Age: 26, Date of birth: Ches 29, 1350
Has gray and green scales, amber eyes and sharp spikes protruding from his back, wears a chain shirt and an iron crown; wields a shimmering greatsword.
Feats: Track, Improved Grapple, Power Attack, Dodge, Improved Critical: Greatsword.
Skills: Climb 13, Hide 3, Intimidate 12, Jump 11, Knowledge: Nature 4, Knowledge: Planes 1, Perform: Drums 2, Profession: Sailor 4, Spot 16, Survival 14, Swim 15, Tumble 14.
Languages: Common, Draconic
Main gear: Holy Greatsword +2, Chain Shirt +4, Ring of Fire Resistance (10), Cloak of Resistance +4, Ring of Protection +3, Gargoyle Crown, Amulet of Health +2, Composite Longbow +1 (mighty +5 str), Gloves of Dexterity +2, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Decanter of Endless Water.
= = = =
Sparkillo “Don’t call me Sparky” Rashi (NN Male Elf Universalist Wizard, Level 14) – Worships himself
Str: 8 Dex: 18 Con: 18 Int: 23 Wis: 10 Cha: 8
AC: 19 HP: 92 Fortitude: +12 Reflex: +12 Will: +13
Initiative: +8 Speed: 30’
Height: 5’10”. Weight: 145 lbs, Age: 103, Date of birth: Flamerule 8th, 1273.
Blond hair, blue eyes.
Feats: Scribe Scroll, Silent Spell, Still Spell, Knack For Magic, Brew Potion, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Spell Penetration, Quicken Spell, Improved Initiative.
Skills: Appraise 7, Concentration 21, Decipher Script 8, Knowledge: Arcana 20, Knowledge: Religion 9, Knowledge: Planar 20, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 20, Knowledge: Architecture 7, Knowledge: Nobility 7, Profession: Sailor 3, Search 13, Sense Motive 3, Spellcraft 27, Spot 15, Swim 3, Tumble 5.
Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic, Chultan, Dwarven, Abyssal, Celestial, Olman.
Main gear: Pearl of Power (L2), Pearl of Power (L4), Bracers of Armor +2, Ring of Protection +2, Headband of Intellect +2, Manta Ray Cloak (not worn by default), Dusty Rose Ioun Stone (+1 AC), Tlacaelel (Cursed Axe of Thanatos), Rapier +1, Amulet of Health +4, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Necklace of Adaptation (not worn by default), Cloak of Resistance +4, Ring of Wizardry (Level 2), Staff of Frost.
= = = =
Lagaan (NN Male Human Rogue Level 13/ Swashbuckler Level 1) – Worships Tymora
Str: 12 Dex: 21 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 12 Cha: 10
AC: 26 HP: 88 Fortitude: +9 Reflex: +15 Will: +9
Initiative: +5 Speed: 30’
Melee attacks:
+1 keen edge rapier +16/+11 (1d6+2/15-20)
and
+1 cold iron keen shortsword +16/+11 (1d6+2/17-20)
Ranged attacks: +2 evil outsider bane longbow +17/+17/+12 (1d8+3/x3)
Height: 5’9”, Weight: 175 lbs, Age: 19 (chronologically) / 27 (physically), Date of birth: Alturiak 25, 1357
Black hair, brown eyes.
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus: Shortbow, Two-Weapon Fighting, Opportunist, Iron Will, Improved Evasion.
Skills: Appraise 9, Balance 12, Bluff 10, Climb 5, Craft: Bow Making 3, Craft: Beer Brewing 5, Decipher Script 3, Diplomacy 14, Disable Device 13, Escape Artist 19, Forgery 4, Gather Information 10, Heal 2, Hide 19, Jump 4, Knowledge: Arcana 3, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 3, Knowledge: Local 4, Knowledge: Nature 3, Knowledge: Planes 3, Knowledge: Religion 3, Open Lock 21, Profession: Sailor 2, Search 12, Sense Motive 10, Sleight of Hand 15, Spellcraft 3, Spot 15, Survival 4, Swim 4, Tumble 17, Use Magic Device 17, Use Rope 12.
Languages: Common, Olman, Chultan.
Main gear: Rapier +1 (Keen), Mithral Chain Shirt +3, Longbow +2 (Evil Outsider Bane), Cold Iron Shortsword +1 (Keen), Hat of Disguise, Vest of Escape, Slippers of Spider Climbing, Amulet of Natural Armor +2, Ring of Protection +2, Ring of Invisibility, Cloak of Resistance +2, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Periapt of Wisdom +4 (not worn by default), Ring of Swimming +5 (not worn by default).
= = = =
Ulfgar Dorunn (CN Male Gold Dwarf Fighter Level 13/ Barbarian Level 1) – Atheist
Str: 20 Dex: 12 Con: 22 Int: 14 Wis: 12 Cha: 8
AC: 34 HP: 201 Fortitude: +18 Reflex: +9 Will: +12
Initiative: +5 Speed: 20’
Melee attacks: +1 frost evil outsider bane dwarven waraxe +22/+17/+12 (1d10+8/19-20/x3 plus 1d6 cold)
Ranged attacks: +1 mighty longbow +16/+11/+6 (1d8+6/x3)
Height: 4’2”, Weight: 140 lbs, Age: 56, Date of birth: unknown
Black hair, black beard, brown eyes.
Feats: Bullheaded, Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Dwarven Waraxe, Weapon Specialization: Dwarven Waraxe, Cleave, Great Cleave, Combat Expertise, Greater Weapon Focus: Dwarven Waraxe, Improved Critical: Dwarven Waraxe, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Counter Attack.
Skills: Appraise 3, Balance 0, Climb 6, Craft: Stonemason +3, Heal 3, Hide 0, Intimidate 3, Jump 3, Knowledge: Arcana 3, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 6, Knowledge: Engineering 3, Knowledge: Local 4, Knowledge: Nature 4, Knowledge: Religion 3, Profession: Sailor 3, Ride 2, Search 9, Spot 16, Survival 4, Swim -2.
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Giant, Gnome, Abyssal, Olman.
Main gear: Full Plate Armor +4, Darkwood Shield +4, Dwarven Waraxe +1 (Frost, Evil Outsider Bane), Belt of Ogre Strength +4, Amulet of Natural Armor +3, Composite Longbow +1 (+5 str), Gloves of Dexterity +2, Ring of Feather Fall (not worn by default), Ring of Protection +2, Cloak of Resistance +4, Bracers of Health +2, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Boots of Haste.
Marpenoth 1st, 1376
The Stone of the Sun and Moon
It ended up taking us a few more days before we were really ready to venture into the most dangerous part of the island. It’s been a while since we’ve done this, so I guess we’re a bit rusty. We had planned on leaving early today, but we ended up running last-minute errands until mid-day.
Following Jakara’s advice, we stopped by to see Jeran the librarian, and Sparkillo got him to give us a clay disk called the Stone of the Sun and Moon. It looked ordinary enough, and didn’t even radiate magic, but it was engraved with three figures and various Olman symbols. Sparkillo described the people on the tablet as Tezcatlipoca, god of the moon, Tonatiuh, god of the sun, and Quetzalcoatl, god of the air in human form. Coiled around them was another image of Quetzalcoatl, this time in serpent form.
Sparkillo found this imagery quite strange, because in Olman religion, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl are known to be enemies. On the disk, they were shown facing each other, with their hands reaching toward a storm cloud between them; Tonatiuh was standing behind and between them, as some sort of mediator. A series of symbols surrounded the disk, a sequence of sun, moon and air symbols. Perhaps this will make sense later: apparently, Father Innersol mentioned that this item would be useful to our mission.
Jakara informed us that he would stay behind and visit the seven villages, spreading the knowledge of his demon-fighting cult among the natives. Could it be that the muscular barbarian is in fact too cowardly to face the demons at our side?
“Hey Belessa, it didn’t work!”
I turned around, and looked down to see Ulfgar glowering at me as he waved a strange stone in the air.
“What in the abyssal depths are you talking about, Ulfgar?”
“The cure for the curse… I did what you asked, and I still can’t drink any alcohol!”
I snorted derisively. “Wait, don’t tell me this hideous rock is what you call an idol of Umberlee? It looks nothing like her! It’s… just… a shapeless rock! What did you expect?”
Lagaan joined us, his eyes gleaming mischievously. “Say, Ulfgar, how long did you spend making that beautiful piece of art?”
The dwarf looked embarrassed all of a sudden. “Well… a few hours yesterday morning.”
Lagaan and I both burst out laughing. “So much for dwarven craftsmanship!” said the rogue with a chuckle.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to try harder than this, my poor Ulfgar!” I said. “Umberlee won’t be pleased until you put some real effort into it!”
Grumbling in his guttural tongue, the dwarf turned around and went to gather his things.
Once we were finally ready, Sparkillo teleported us all to Krh’ku’krh. Raguhl soon came to greet us, and the others congratulated him on the improvements they saw in the settlement. It’s true that it was less dirty than before, and better defended, but it still looked like just a bunch of caves and mud hovels to me.
Raguhl invited us in one of the larger caves, which served as his home. Thankfully, it didn’t stink quite as badly as the other ones. I summoned a Heroes’ Feast for us, and we ate in the company of a few of Raguhl’s advisors, as well as Churtle and Urol. Raguhl told us that the village had been attacked by a few demonic creatures lately. He had killed a Babau by himself. He had spent some time in the summer months seeking some outcasts of his tribe, lizardmen who had been exiled by Kusmash, or had fled the usurper’s wrath. He had only found a few of them, so far. Once the meal was over, we gathered together, and Raguhl gave a final farewell to his tribe. They seemed genuinely sad to see him go… I guess those primitives must really love him; even a lowly brute like him must seem quite sophisticated compared to the Lizardfolk who’ve never been exposed to our culture.
The secret camp
We left Krh’ku’krh around mid-afternoon, and soared over the island under the effect of my Wind Walk spell. I directed us toward the Central Plateau, and less than two hours later, we reached our destination. This part of the island towered over the jungle, as it was surrounded by three-thousand-foot-high cliffs. Its surface consisted mainly of savannah interspersed here and there by patches of jungle. Part of the area was covered in an eerie and unnatural-looking fog. As we circled over the plateau, we spotted several ruins and ancient carved heads of stone. Here and there, we saw some flying predators such as gigantic rocs and a flight of wyverns. We also caught a glimpse of Taboo Island, and noticed a few pyramids jutting out of the jungle there.
Eventually, we landed near the jungle section that Jakara had indicated to us. Raguhl looked for tracks and signs that the Olman had mentioned. We headed into the jungle, following him, and after some time, he succeeded in leading us to Father Innersol’s secret camp. It was located amidst some Olman ruins, with an old statue at its center. A few ragged warriors took battle stances as we emerged in their camp, but they soon relaxed as they realized who we were. There were perhaps twelve of them, two of which were Olmans, and a few of which were Phanatons. The others were all lizardmen.
Raguhl seemed to recognize some of his long-lost brethren, and addressed them, introducing himself and the rest of our group. The lizardmen bowed to him, their “king”, and pledged allegiance to him. I rolled my eyes at this… “King” indeed… More like the chief of a clan of primitive half-humans, nothing to get too excited about! But that seemed to please Raguhl, who found a few more of the outcasts he had been searching for all summer long.
After a while, another one of the demon-hunters came out of hiding. I barely recognized him at first, but it was in fact Father Catherly. He had undergone a drastic transformation. While before he had been immaculately dressed in a golden robe, and kept his hair and beard perfectly trimmed, he was now dirty and ragged. He was dressed in simple clothes and furs. His face was stained by dirt, and he was disheveled. It was obvious he had not bathed in a while. He carried a weapon at his side. Clearly, the hunters had trained him to become one of their own. Long gone was his idyllic life of sloth in Farshore.
I gave him a cold, merciless smile. “You’re looking well, Father Catherly.”
The man glared back at me in silence. I could tell that he was keeping his emotions on a tight leash.
“Father Catherly has helped us become closer to the Morning Lord Lathander,” rumbled a big lizard man, who had a massive snake coiled around him. “In turn, we have taught him to stalk his prey in the jungle shadows, to hunt and to kill.”
“Marvelous!” I replied with fake enthusiasm. “Well, I’m glad you finally found a way to make yourself useful, father!”
The priest didn’t reply. Oh, poor, poor him! It must’ve taken all of his discipline not to attack me! Surely he must’ve known he would only get killed again.
The lizardman with the snake-pet seemed to be the leader of the group in Father Innersol’s absence. He was a cleric of Lathander named Rissashtak, and he informed us that Father Innersol was currently on a mission with seven other demon hunters and his faithful dog. He showed us the camp, and told us about his group’s history. They had all been gathered as an elite demon-fighting force by Father Innersol, who sought to oppose the terrible demons of the island. At its height, the force had consisted of thirty-six individuals, but over time, the demons had killed many of them, and they now numbered less than twenty.
The camp was pretty simple in terms of accommodations, but at least it was well-hidden. It was built among the ruins of an old Olman settlement, which included a temple of their sun god Tonatiuh, the Olman equivalent of Lathander… How appropriate. There were symbols of Lathander carved all over the ruins. Rissashtak showed us the statue of Tonatiuh at the center of the camp: he informed us that it was warded with ancient, potent magic that shielded the camp from divination magic such as scrying. So that’s why I hadn’t been able to scry on Father Catherly earlier! I turned to look at the resurrected priest, and noticed that he eyed us balefully as we walked around the camp.
Raguhl told the demon-hunters about recent events in Farshore, Krh’ku’krh and the rest of the island, but finally asked when they expected Father Innersol to return. Rissashtak and a few others looked at each other uneasily, and admitted that they had expected him to return a few days ago already. Fearing that the old man was in danger, Raguhl asked Father Catherly to do a Sending to reach him, and the acolyte was forced to admit that he wasn’t powerful enough to cast this spell. Rissashtak gave the same answer. I smiled triumphantly when Raguhl finally, and somewhat reluctantly, turned toward me.
I spent a few minutes performing the complex ritual, and I sent my message to Father Innersol, but I got no reply. I said as such to the others, and I saw some doubt in the way they looked at me. Surely they feared that I had received a reply but might be hiding it from them. Idiots! I stared back defiantly, daring any of them to speak their mind out loud. None of them did.
“This does not bode well,” said Raguhl at last. “Could our friend be dead?”
No-one had an answer…
So we waited for a few hours. Rissashtak talked with Raguhl and a few others, but I merely observed them in silence. The reptilian cleric repeated that the demons of the Central Plateau had somehow sensed that we had slain the koprus in charge of the Shadow Pearl production. Rissashtak didn’t know how they knew, and we didn’t know how Father Innersol and his men knew. But the priests of Lathander suspected that the demons might have a backup plan to make more pearls, and that they wanted to attack Farshore in retribution for the setback they had suffered.
Rissashtak said he didn’t know anything about the demon that we had seen in the magical mirror, the one that looked like Demogorgon. I teased Ulfgar by mentioning the demon-lord’s name several times in the conversation. We learned that several types of demons could be found on the plateau, in addition to the Skinwalkers: Babaus, Bar-Lguras, Glabrezus, Vrocks, and Bebiliths. Rissashtak also told us about a battle where he had helped Father Innersol defeat a Hezrou demon.
The Skinwalkers were less dangerous than true demons, but their leaders were called the Acolytes, and they wielded powerful magic. There were only a few of them, thankfully. It was likely one of them who had cursed Jakara’s mind before he got captured by the troglodytes of Laogroat. The Skinwalkers usually poisoned their weapons, but Father Catherly was able to protect his men from that with a Heroes’ Feast, just like I can.
So it seemed like the Skinwalkers were allied with the koprus. While we waited, we told Rissashtak about our own adventures below the surface of the island.
Wolves in sheep’s clothing
It was late in the afternoon when we heard a discreet signal given by some of the demon-hunters standing watch. A few moments later, we saw the shapes of Father Innersol, his dog, and six lizardmen enter the camp. They were bruised and looked tired, as though they had been through some difficult combat. The demon-hunters were relieved to finally see them alive, and asked Father Innersol how his mission had gone. The priest appeared to be tired, and only gave very short answers, only stating that one of his men had died. He said he needed to rest and feed himself, and that he would tell his story in more details afterwards. I offered to help healing them, but was told that they had received all the healing they needed already.
So it was that we found ourselves sitting around a small campfire with the aged priest. Ulfgar, Raguhl and Sparkillo sat close to me, in the company of Father Innersol, Rissashtak, and five other lizardmen. Lagaan sat in the shadows, a bit away from us, but he kept his eyes on us. As he ate, the priest’s dog went to lick his fingers.
Since Father Innersol didn’t talk much, my curiosity was drawn toward his strange dog. I cast a Detect Magic spell and noticed an aura of illusion around the beast. There was a magical aura around Father Innersol and each of his hunters as well, but then again, the same could be said about the members of Trouble as well. Wondering if perhaps the dog was in reality a form of mighty celestial guardian, I resumed listening to the few words that Father Innersol deigned speak to Raguhl and Rissashtak.
Suddenly, a scream of pain filled the air. I immediately realized that it had been emitted by Lagaan. My amusement at hearing the despicable rogue’s cry was soon replaced by outrage and horror, as we all turned toward him and saw that he was being attacked by a gigantic, demonic baboon-like creature, which stood where there had only been a dog before. We only felt a moment of hesitation, but it was enough for our enemies to stand up and attack. Three of the lizardmen with us had been in Father Innersol’s party, and it soon became obvious that they were in fact traitors. At the same time, we heard sounds of battle around the other campfire deeper in the camp: the rest of the “hunting party” had apparently revealed their true nature there as well, and were attacking the rest of our allies!
I hesitated for a few moments as I struggled to comprehend what the hell was happening. Lagaan was trying to escape the giant baboon’s grasp; he was bleeding horribly from several terrible wounds. At the same time, Father Innersol stood up, his face twisted in a mask of shock, as he uttered a foul curse of “surprise” at this sudden attack. But I was sure he was faking it. He was in on it too!
The false lizardman closest to Father Innersol cast a deadly spell at Sparkie, which the wizard barely resisted.
“I’ll protect you, Noltus!” roared Raguhl, as he entered a state of rage at the sight of this treachery. In a blur of motion, he seemed to be at two places at once as he activated the power of his deinonychus tattoo, and all of a sudden, he was standing between Father Innersol and the enemy spellcaster, attacking this foe with his glowing sword.
“It’s a trick, Father Innersol’s a traitor too!” I shouted over the din of battle, but as I did this I feared that nobody would heed this warning. They didn’t trust me, they would think it was but a ruse to try and get rid of the competition. The fools!
Ulfgar and the three “real” lizardmen at my side hurried to attack the “false” lizardmen that threatened them and Sparkie. Lagaan, still barely alive, turned invisible to escape the giant baboon. Sparkie tried to paralyze the baboon, but the creature resisted his spell, and bit Sparkie, staining his pretty robe with a huge stain of blood.
It was the first time I was in combat since I had returned from Umberlee’s domain in Fury’s Heart, and I felt that my senses had been greatly enhanced by her divine influence. Whereas before I had needed to touch my companions with my own hands in order to heal them, now, I sensed their life force at a distance, and could weave my magic from where I stood. Such is the power of the Hierophant. With a prayer, I closed Sparkie’s wound.
I saw Father Innersol retreat into the dense foliage. This confirmed my suspicions: the true priest is a zealot, and would never have backed down from danger like this. Sparkillo tried to defend his life by shooting beams of fire at the baboon, but they caused little damage. Raguhl survived a spell cast by the leader of the traitors, a deadly spellcaster. Lagaan suddenly reappeared, piercing the spellcaster’s flesh mercilessly with his weapons, and Raguhl cut off the mage’s head.
Ulfgar had been fighting the enemies side-by-side with one of our allies, a lizardman who killed the foe Ulfgar had been fighting. The dwarf growled in rage when this happened, and turned against the loyal lizardman, smiting him with his axe! He then swung the weapon in a great arc and cleaved an enemy to death as well.
At the same time, the baboon ferociously tore at Sparkie’s flesh, almost slaying the unfortunate mage! It was truly a terrible foe!
The demon-hunter that Ulfgar had slain suddenly lurched back to life, as a zombie. This was surely Father Innersol’s doing! Ulfgar and I both stabbed it with our weapons, and I channeled a powerful healing spell that restored Sparkillo to full health. Lying on the ground before the raging giant baboon, he still presented an easy target, though, so he decided to teleport behind Ulfgar and me for safety.
Alas, this was bad news for Lagaan. The baboon was in a blood frenzy, and was now looking for a new target. Closest to it stood Raguhl, and Lagaan, who was still bleeding badly – I had not had time to heal him yet. The foul creature tore into Lagaan, shredding him to pieces!
Although I felt a profound sense of satisfaction at seeing the various parts of Lagaan’s anatomy fall to the ground here and there, Raguhl did not seem to share these sentiments, and he attacked the enormous baboon with terrible fury. Ulfgar soon joined him, leaving Sparkillo and I behind, to face the zombie and four ghouls, who had just emerged from a dark portal that had briefly opened behind us. Sparkillo wasted no time in sending back where they came from, blasting them all to smithereens with a Fireball. One of our lizardmen allies was also singed, and I heard a cry of pain from Father Innersol as well – the impostor was likely invisible, somewhere.
After hesitating for just a brief instant, I cast a powerful spell to Revivify Lagaan’s remains. He came back to life, but remained unconscious and a bloody mess, behind the two warriors.
Then, the baboon emitted a terrible shriek that boomed like thunder itself. It could have made us deaf, but thankfully, we were only shaken by it. While the monster was doing that, Raguhl jumped up toward its exposed throat, and plunged his holy sword deep inside, killing that horrible fiend at long last!
Our visible enemies were all dead. Ulfgar hurried toward the other bonfire, which stood behind some trees, but from which we still heard sounds of battle. Meanwhile, I cast an Invisibility Purge spell, and Sparkillo shouted that he saw Father Innersol through some trees to our left. Raguhl started running in that direction, but before he could reach his target, and before I could summon a deadly spell against our foe, he let out a cruel, insane laugh, and disappeared: he had teleported away!
We had defeated our enemies… but at a heavy cost. Lagaan had died, and Sparkillo had nearly died as well. Three of the lizardmen demon-hunters had perished, one of them at Ulfgar’s hands. Rissashtak and a few other lizardmen confronted the dwarf about his murderous rampage, but he was able to feign innocence, pretending that he had been mind controlled. Strangely enough, those simpletons believed him, but I didn’t make a big fuss about it, because they had believed me as well: Raguhl had trusted my statement that Father Innersol had been a traitor. I was pleasantly surprised by that.
Ulfgar told us he had recognized the giant baboon as a Julajius, a fear-inducing shapeshifter. According to him, it should’ve been paralyzed by daylight, but hadn’t been. Could this be because of the eerie fog surrounding the place? Nevertheless, I was glad that we had avoided its fear and poison, thanks to my magical sustenance.
After a while, our enemies regained their true appearances. They had been Skinwalkers all along. Rissashtak told us that their master, the one that had cast spells at Sparkie and Raguhl, had been one of those they call Acolytes. We found a few magical items on them, the most useful by far being a ring of Freedom of Movement, which we agreed to give to Ulfgar.
So now it was clear that something truly horrible had happened to Father Innersol and his men. They had probably been captured by these fiends, tortured horribly, probably probed by magic. The safety of this camp was compromised. We had to move against Taboo Island quickly… We needed to rest first, but first thing in the morning, we had to strike at the demons in their lair.
Alone again
The demon-hunters spent the rest of the evening mourning the dead, worrying about their missing comrades, and jumping at shadows. Sparkillo and Lagaan also seemed a tad shaken by their brush with death, even though I’d healed all their wounds by then.
I felt we had been a little stupid: we should’ve been more wary when we saw the fake Father Innersol appear. Since my Sending had failed earlier, I should’ve at least asked him why he hadn’t answered. Then, he would surely have lied to me, but looking into the impostor’s eyes, I might have caught a glimpse of his falsehood. Likewise, when I scanned them all for magic, I wish I’d had the ability to detect that they were all covered by a Veil spell.
Most people stood in small groups by themselves, speaking in hushed tones or simply staying silent. I took advantage of this morose period to finally approach Father Catherly. He recoiled slightly in fear when he saw me approach, but stared defiantly into my eyes.
“We’ve all had quite an evening, haven’t we?” I said in a falsely cheerful tone. “You must feel very scared and alone now that Father Innersol’s gone. He’s not here to protect you anymore.”
I let the threat of this ominous sentence hang in the air for a few moments, as I held his eyes with a stare that was hard as steel. Still, he dared not reply.
I continued in a low voice, so only he could hear: “It occurs to me that I could slay you, right here, right now, with but a single spell. You know it too. And you know the funniest thing? Your allies probably wouldn’t lift a finger to stop me. Do you know why?... Because I’m so much more valuable than you are. You, my poor, weak Father Catherly… are expendable.”
Despite his show of bravery, a thin trickle of sweat started to flow down the side of his face. I gave him a cold smile.
“But I won’t kill you tonight. No… I enjoy seeing you squirm way too much to do that.”
I turned my back to him and walked away… letting him chew on that for the night.
The lizardman’s tear
I walked around the camp for a bit until I found the person I was looking for. Raguhl was sitting at the foot of the great statue with Rissashtak. They looked quite glum.
We discussed for a few minutes about where to go from here. Should I seek the divine guidance of Umberlee to try and locate Father Innersol, or should we try to follow the tracks of the monsters who had assaulted the camp?
We didn’t reach a definitive conclusion, and we remained silent for a few minutes. I was lost in thought. But suddenly, I became aware of something incredibly surprising: a tear was flowing down Raguhl’s face. I had never seen this before… I didn’t even know lizardmen could cry!
“Raguhl… Are you all right?” I asked, too flabbergasted to even think of mocking him.
He wiped the tear away, and took a few moments to compose himself before answering. “Noltus is a dear friend to me. The attack we suffered tonight must surely mean that… he has suffered greatly.” His voice became choked by emotions, and he stopped again. Then, he eventually added: “It’s our fault…”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“All of this. It’s our fault. If we hadn’t taken our sweet time coming here, we would’ve arrived in time to prevent Noltus from getting captured!”
“Don’t say that, king Raguhl,” said Rissashtak. “Noltus, and all the rest of us, have been lucky to escape notice for so long. Such a thing was bound to happen sooner or later. Now all that matters is that you find him if he’s still alive, and destroy the demons’ master either way!”
“Raguhl is right, though,” I said, spreading my venom in the lizardmen’s ears. “We were greedy, and lazy. We took the time to craft magical items. Lagaan and Ulfgar wasted their time taking care of their accursed brewery. Even after Jakara contacted us, it took us several days to get started. We could’ve saved Father Innersol. He might be dead because of us.”
Raguhl looked at me in anguish.
“And we’re supposed to be the heroes of the island?” I continued in a derisive voice. “Hardly! You have been deceived in more ways than one this evening, Raguhl.”
“What??”
“That lizardman that Ulfgar killed… He did it out of spite. He was never mind-controlled. I was right beside him, I saw it all. Your kinsman killed his enemy, deprived Ulfgar of a clean victory. The dwarf struck him in anger. Twice. He killed your friend of his own will,” I told the two lizardmen.
The cleric of Lathander stood up with a growl, gripping his weapon, but Raguhl reached out and grabbed his wrist to stop him.
“Rissashtak… Don’t… It’s too late now.”
“But my king, that dwarf killed one of our men! He’s just as bad as the demons!”
“Yes. He is. And in some ways, he’s worse. For at least those demons, and the evil priestess Belessa here, wear their evil openly, like a dark banner.”
I glared at Raguhl as he so bluntly accused me, but the lizardman went on: “But Ulfgar, and so many others, act in a wholly selfish and morally apathetic way. They are indifferent to the concepts of Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Justice, or Mercy. They do only what seems like the most fun thing to do at any moment, without truly giving any thought to it. And in many ways, those people are even more dangerous than Belessa, because they operate under the cover of neutrality. No-one seeks to blame them for their random and thoughtless actions. Their behavior is deemed ‘acceptable’, unlike clear evil, which is strongly opposed.”
I was still staring at Raguhl. I could not believe that such profound words were coming out of the lizardman’s mouth. It seems I had underestimated his wisdom.
“You could accuse Ulfgar of this foul deed,” continued Raguhl, “and he would deny it. You could present some proof, and he would strike you down as well. The members of Trouble are now quite powerful. But will we use our power wisely?” He shrugged. “If the future mirrors the past, it seems we will not. Please, Rissashtak. We cannot bring Serossan back to life. Belessa will surely not agree to spend any of her diamonds to perform such a miracle. Do not confront Ulfgar, that murderous maniac. You would only risk your own life, which is precious to me. Nor will I confront him about this, for it would serve no purpose. He and I are roughly equal in combat prowess. One would slay the other, I cannot say which. But either way, Trouble would be weakened, and the greater good would be put in jeopardy.”
Rissashtak remained silent, and bowed his head in reverence.
Raguhl turned back to face me. “Thank you for informing me of this, Belessa; but please leave us now. I wish to be alone with my friend.”
I stood up and retreated into the darkness. Raguhl’s words had somehow stung me deeply with their truth. I spent the night alone, surrounded by shadows and doubt.
Marpenoth 2nd, 1376
Sparkillo’s Magnificent Mansion
After my discussion with Raguhl and Rissashtak the previous evening, Sparkillo pointed out that it was dangerous to be staying in the camp now that the demons knew about it. Instead, he decided to invite us into what he called “Sparkillo’s Magnificent Mansion”.
We left the camp and found a suitable spot in the jungle about five hundred yards from the camp. There, Sparkie cast his spell, and a shimmering gateway appeared, similar to the one created for a Rope Trick spell. But once we entered that space, we were amazed at how different it was from the cramped dimensional hole we were used to. It seemed we were now inside a grand palace, superbly furnished and large enough to contain many bedrooms. A number of translucent servants saw to our every need, and even served us some delightful food.
It felt great to be inside, since the air was fresh, a welcome relief from the suffocating atmosphere of the jungle. The demon hunters were especially happy about this, and they were even able to take baths, for the first time in many months, no doubt.
Lagaan was especially quiet that evening, surely still under the shock of dying from the attacks of the giant demonic baboon.
The entrance to the mansion was well-protected, and we were not disturbed during the night. In the morning, Rissashtak approached us. “I’ve seen you fight,” he said. “You are indeed powerful, like my master was saying. Before going to Taboo Island, perhaps you will want to stop by Mantru. It’s the old village on the lake’s shore. Until not so long ago, it was still inhabited by humans, and when Father Innersol first reached the Central Plateau, he tried to make a connection with this tribe, and learned that they were totally oblivious to the fact that they were living in close proximity to true evil: koprus, demons, Skinwalkers, as if a veil had been placed in front of their eyes. It didn’t take long before Father Innersol realized that this was in fact exactly what was happening: the entire village was under the power of mind-controlling magic. The evil powers of Taboo Island were behind this. The demons of the island would come when they needed more ‘raw materials’ for their sacrilegious rituals. We believe that a number of the Skinwalkers came from that village, transformed by the evil power that reigns on the island.
“That was before I joined the group. Father Innersol was battling the evil alone. He was trying to understand the menace of the Central Plateau. With his magic, he managed to pry away the veil of confusion and domination that was kept over the shaman of the village, a man named Umlat. Father Innersol is a powerful servant of his god, and his magic was strong enough that eventually, he was able to unravel the magic that clouded Umlat’s judgment. The shaman finally realized that indeed, he had been enchanted, that indeed, his entire life had been a lie. He tried to free his people from the mental domination, and perhaps that is what caused the swift and terrible retribution from the Skinwalkers. The village was destroyed. This happened just before I joined Father Innersol because, after seeing this, after thinking he had finally found a way to fight against the powers of Taboo Island, he saw with what brutality they retaliated: in but a single night, the entire population of the village was gone.
“That shocked Father Innersol so much that he understood, at that point in time, the great importance of eliminating the evil of the Central Plateau. He needed strong souls to help him in this endeavor, as it was too much for one man to do alone, and that’s when he started building this team of freedom fighters, if you so wish to call us, people dedicated to eradicating the evil. That is what I am. He found me and brought me into the light of Lathander, and ever since, I’ve been helping him.
“There is one thing in Mantru that might help you, if you are the ones, as Father Innersol believes. In his last moments, Umlat, not controlled anymore by the evil powers, free to use his own mind and his own heart, became yet again what he was supposed to be: a devotee of one of the Olman gods, I’m not sure exactly which one. And he fought back when the Skinwalkers invaded his village, he was surely one of the only ones to do so, and alas, he died in the effort. And his body remained there. The Skinwalkers weren’t able to desecrate it, because his god, pleased with the good service that his priest had done, put his divine hand as protection on the corpse that lay there.”
“Hey, that means we could raise him,” said Lagaan.
“I wonder why his god only helped him after he was dead,” observed Sparkillo at the same time. “Since it was too late by then…”
But Rissashtak continued despite their interruptions. “Umlat’s body remains in Mantru to this day, in Umlat’s old hut there. It is guarded by four creatures, invisible spirits that protect it. I myself have been there, but alas, I was not judged worthy. They said they were keeping the body until it had a chance to talk to true worthy souls who shall free the island of its terrible menace. It’s all shrouded in mysticism and spirituality that even I, having training as a cleric of Lathander, can’t quite grasp.”
“Are those guardians servants of the same god that Umlat worshipped?” asked Raguhl.
“Yes,” replied Rissashtak. “I received basic training as a cleric, but I’ve never been the theologian type. I’m more of a warrior-priest, so don’t ask me to explain something too complicated spiritually.”
“But will those creatures attack us? Or at least… some of us?” added Raguhl, glancing sideways in my direction.
“I know not their intent, their purpose, their thoughts. I felt their presence, but they were invisible to my eyes.”
“Were there still some Skinwalkers there when you visited the village?”
“There sure were some when Sparkie went there last time,” said Lagaan with a grin.
“They come and go,” replied Rissashtak, “but they don’t stay there more than any other place. The village itself is intact, but it’s now abandoned.”
We discussed this briefly, and agreed that we would indeed visit Mantru. We asked Rissashtak if he knew anything about the Disk of the Sun and Moon, but he only knew that Father Innersol had found it during his travels and had given it to Farshore’s librarian for safekeeping. He sensed that the three gods represented on it were related to Taboo Island.
I then summoned a Heroes’ Feast, and we all ate, with the exception of Father Catherly, who risked insulting me by not touching the sacred food. Raguhl advised the demon hunters to hide in a different part of the jungle, out of sight, somewhere generic-looking in case they were being scried upon.
Then, we carefully left the mansion through its magical opening, ready for an ambush, but the surroundings were still safe. We went back to the camp, and saw the tracks of some demons that had come during the night. I also tried another Sending spell toward Father Innersol, but once again, there was no reply.
Umlat’s last words
Sparkillo offered to take us to Mantru with a Teleport spell; we all gathered around him as he cast the spell. The jungle vanished from around us, to be replaced by… mist. We looked around, and immediately realized that we were clearly not in Mantru. We were in the middle of a savannah. He had failed another teleport spell…
“Strange, this doesn’t look like ruins,” I observed.
“Hey Sparkie, I thought you said you’d been here before?” asked Lagaan.
“Yes, yes, very funny,” replied the wizard, “but you must understand that this area is… err… under the effects of… err… unpredictable magical currents tainted with arcane chaos which… err…”
I could tell that Sparkie was trying to fool us into thinking that a magical phenomenon was to blame for this erroneous teleportation, but I could clearly see that the only reason was his own ineptitude. Before we could berate him any further, though, three huge bird-headed monstrosities appeared right next to us: Vrocks!
Thankfully, Sparkillo redeemed himself by immediately whisking us away from this dangerous fight, this time bringing us to Mantru. Ulfgar only grumbled a little bit at missing this chance for battle, but the rest of us were thankful. We had no desire to risk our lives and waste our energy fighting a random patrol of demons.
Old huts surrounded us, and the mist also hung heavy over these ruins. I was reminded of Fogmire for a moment. It was clear that this place had been uninhabited for at least several months, yet a few canoes were still moored at the edge of the lake. Lagaan turned invisible as we began our exploration of the village, but I had no desire to be surprised by the invisible guardians of the old priest, so I cast an Invisibility Purge around me.
A Skinwalker suddenly appeared, and the two warriors started rushing it with brandished weapons, but the foul being merely said: “Tee hee, it’s only me!” with Lagaan’s voice. Clearly, our little friend was having fun with his hat of disguise once again.
But I motioned for those fools to be quiet, for I had also noticed another figure that had been revealed by my spell: it looked liked a winged, faceless humanoid. It somewhat resembled some Olman statues, and in fact it reminded me of the gargoyles that had captured Amella, Moretta and the others last year.
“Hail, guardian of Umlat,” said Raguhl. “We are friends of Father Innersol. We come in peace; may we see the body of Umlat the wise man?”
The angel-like being only regarded us in silence.
“What is that thing?” whispered Lagaan.
“I’m not sure,” replied Sparkie. “It’s probably a servant of one of the Olman gods, but I can’t guess what sort of creature would look like this. Perhaps it’s a shape-shifter?”
“We are the watchers,” said a telepathic voice that suddenly resonated within all of our minds. It came from the winged man. ”We are the door to the priest’s last journey, which he will undertake once the worthy hero that he is receives the farewell he deserves.”
“Are we supposed to give him this farewell?” asked Raguhl out loud.
A second winged figure came out of a nearby hut. “Only if you are worthy,” it said telepathically.
“How will you decide if we are worthy?”
“If you answer the following riddle, which comes from the Father of Firmament and the Giver of Law.”
“Ah, I love riddles!” exclaimed Sparkie.
“I hate riddles…” grumbled Raguhl.
“So these beings serve Quetzalcoatl, the serpent-god,” I told my companions. “He is the one known as the Father of Firmament in the Olman religion.”
Then, the angels spoke their strange riddle:
“I came back from the land the loadstone scorned.
I came back with the sun when the sky was newborn.
I came back in the shadow as the day met its end.
In what place among four have I never been?”
Raguhl, Lagaan and Ulfgar frowned as they wracked their brains to try to comprehend these verses, but Sparkie immediately smiled. “Ah, of course, this is so easy!” he said smugly. “Surely we are the chosen ones, my friends, because I have of course trivially deduced the solution to this enigma. I think those beings were clearly not expecting to have the visit of a great mind such as…”
Ignoring the arrogant wizard’s ramblings, I turned toward the angels and said: “You’ve never been north.”
“Correct,” said the voices of the angels inside our heads.
“How did you guess that, Belessa?” asked Ulfgar.
“The loadstone points north, so I guess we could consider that it scorns south. And the sky is newborn at dawn, in the east, and the day meets its end at sunset, in the west. That only leaves north.” The others nodded in understanding, but Sparkie was glaring at me with a frozen grimace on his face. “Oh, I’m sorry, Sparkie. I’m sure you found the answer too. I didn’t mean to steal your thunder.”
The elf smirked, trying to act as though I hadn’t wounded his pride. “That’s… That’s quite all right, my dear Belessa. That’s… exactly what I was about to say.”
“Great minds think alike,” I told him with a wink, knowing he would be outraged that I dare compare my ‘puny’ brain to his. Sometimes, our mage can be as conceited as Rakis-Ka!
“You are indeed worthy,” said the angels. “Follow us and be the last mortals to hear the words of the hero Umlat.”
They led us inside a hut where two more similar creatures waited, near the preserved remains of an Olman priest. They bowed solemnly before the body.
“I have to ask you, oh mysterious ones,” asked Sparkie, “what manner of creatures are you?”
”We are the children of Quetzalcoatl.”
Sparkie slapped his forehead. “Of course! You’re couatls, aren’t you?”
In answer to his second good guess in as many minutes, the four beings glowed with divine brilliance for a moment, and then they took the form of four majestic, winged snakes. Couatls… Just like the guardian of the Rakastas’ weapons we had encountered last year; the one that had tried to send me to the Abyss.
Great…
Perhaps sensing my sudden unease, they said: “We will not judge you, for you have proven yourselves worthy. Now hark the words of the wise Umlat…”
As they said this, a glow started to appear around Umlat’s corpse, and soon, a ghostly image of the old man rose from it. He looked at us and started speaking in the Olman language, which we all understand except Raguhl (who, ironically, had probably considered himself the most ‘worthy’ of us all).
The spirit talked to us at great length, and I will not write here everything he said, for much of it, we already knew from Innersol’s followers or from other sources. But he confirmed our suspicions that koprus had controlled the minds of all of Mantru’s inhabitants for many years, basically since Umlat was a child. They had used the humans living there as a source of bodies for their demented schemes, for example the creation of Skinwalkers.
Soon after Father Innersol released him from this mental control, Umlat in turn freed Fano, the chief of the tribe. But this proved to be a terrible mistake, for the village was then attacked by a group of horrible demons, including Skinwalkers and that dreadful baboon that had killed Lagaan. Fano himself was killed by a watery demon with yellow eyes and many legs, which drew upon the ground by the lake a symbol representing death itself.
Sparkillo gasped at this, as he recognized the description of a wastrilith demon, a supposedly terrible fiend who can indeed draw many deadly magical symbols at will, some of which can slay even mighty heroes like us as soon as we but gaze upon them…
As for Umlat, he was attacked by a ghoul-like demon that paralyzed him with a vicious bite. While the priest was helpless, the demon had broken his neck. Once again, Sparkie recognized the description of this creature, and he lowered his head in sadness. He then told us, in the Common tongue, so Raguhl would understand, that this fiend was likely a Murezhi demon, the same type of demon as the one that had taken the place of Kusmash, the previous chief of Krh’ku’krh.
“Of course,” said Sparkie, “these are terrible demons… They devour not only the bodies of their victims, but also their memories.”
He let those words hang in the air for a moment.
“Father Innersol…” I said.
“What?” asked Raguhl.
“The fiend who took Father Innersol’s appearance yesterday: I was wondering how he had been able to fool us, and the demon-hunters, so easily. This is surely how it must’ve happened. He was a Murezhi demon, and he stole Father Innersol’s memories in addition to his appearance.”
“But that means…”
“Yes, Raguhl. Father Innersol is dead. Furthermore, he likely died in horrible pain. And the creature that did this, the monster that devoured his very soul, is still at large. I’m afraid all hope is lost for him.”
Crushed by this realization, Raguhl sat down numbly and stared into the shadows. I turned my head so nobody would see me smile. Umberlee would be most pleased by this turn of events: Father Innersol was gone, and I didn’t even have to lift a finger in effort.
The others questioned Umlat about the mind control he had been subjected to by the koprus, and the priest replied that it had been as though his mind had been split in two. On one side, he had known that Skinwalkers had been walking among his neighbors, abducting people on a regular basis, but the other part of his brain had convinced him that it was normal, and had forced him to ignore those events. Such was the strength of the koprus’ mental domination. Over the decades, tens of warriors had disappeared, with the abductions growing more frequent in recent years. Even though this wasn’t a large village, it seemed that the women here had been used to produce babies as quickly as their bodies were able to…
I felt anger welling up inside my heart at the way those terrible outsiders were using us humans as cattle for their demonic experiments. It was time for this madness to end.
Eventually came the time for Umlat to leave our world. Although most of his life had been spent uselessly as a puppet of monstrous abominations, in the end, he had found sanity and courage, and had died like a hero. With heavy hearts, we watched the spirit of Umlat soar into the air, with the four couatls floating gently around him, as a portal of searing whiteness opened above them. Their forms turned into mist, and they were brought into another world by a divine wind.
It was a majestic moment. We witnessed the departure of a hero.
I can only wish that our lives will be more meaningful than his, and that when our time comes, we will depart this world with at least as much glory as he did.
Taboo Island
Now that we were reasonably sure that Father Innersol was truly dead, I used another Sending spell to inform Rissashtak. It seemed there was no point for them to stick around on the Central Plateau anymore. It was time for Trouble to win this victory for everyone on the island.
We left the hut and stood alone in the village. There was still some thin mist all around us, and it covered the lake as well, surrounding us like an eerie, translucent blanket, and almost hiding from view Taboo Island. We discussed how to get there, from teleportation, to taking the boats, but finally I decided to cast a Wind Walk spell on the group. Soon, we found ourselves soaring over the quiet waters. As we moved toward the island, we all noticed a dark, huge, menacing shape moving below the surface. Whatever it was, it made me happy we hadn’t taken the boats. It was around the same size as Emragg the glutton, and I wondered if perhaps it was the seventh legendary beast of the Isle of Dread, the one that even Urol didn’t know about, since no explorer had ever ventured unto the Central Plateau and come back to tell the tale…
We circled around the island for a little while. Most of its surface was covered by a thick jungle, with a few clearings here and there. The tips of four seventy-foot-high pyramids broke the surface of the trees in places. Weird animal cries could be heard coming from down there; they were savage, disturbing, unnatural. Could it be that the entire island was under the same effect of chaos as those generated by a broken shadow pearl?
During the summer months, Sparkillo told me about the tomes he’d read recently about Demogorgon; his domain is an abyssal jungle, the horrible place known as Gaping Maw. It seems that this corrupted jungle was but a shadow of what the real thing must be.
The western part of the island rose sharply above the lake, and in these great cliffs opened a large cave, ninety feet wide and ninety feet high. Its entrance was protected by a huge net decorated with scary fetishes, and over the water stood a wooden pier to which were attached a few canoes.
We carefully approached the net in gaseous form, expecting a trap, and indeed, as soon as Lagaan passed through it, the bird skulls adorning the net all screamed in alarm. We waited a little bit to see what would happen, and soon enough, a monstrous being emerged from the water. It was huge, black, slimy and hideous. We immediately understood that this was the wastrilith demon that Umlat had spoken of. We waited a bit to see how it would react, and as we feared, it noticed us and cast a Greater Dispel Magic spell around us. Only Sparkillo had time to escape, the rest of us were caught in the area of the spell. It destroyed the Wind Walk spell on Lagaan, Raguhl and myself, and we all fell down and were caught by the net. Ulfgar luckily escaped the effect.
We were in no position to battle this fiend. Raguhl couldn’t get to it, Sparkillo was already far away, and it would take Ulfgar half a minute to condense himself back to a solid state. We had to abort the mission… I quickly called for Lagaan and Raguhl to reach out to me, and I used a Word of Recall.
We appeared in the main chapel of the temple of Umberlee. Bereleth immediately came to greet us, but I silenced him with a gesture: I had no time to waste explaining to him what had just happened. I could only hope that Sparkillo and Ulfgar would be quick and smart enough to understand what I had done, find each other, and teleport back here.
Thankfully, they were. After but a few minutes, they entered the temple: they had come from the House of Trouble, where Sparkillo had teleported them. We quickly discussed what had just happened, and what strategy to use against this terrible monster. We wondered whether to launch a second assault right away, or regain some of our magic first. Eventually, we decided to teleport back to the entrance, but first, Sparkillo cast some Fly spells on the two warriors, and I cast a Death Ward spell on each member of the group.
Blasphemous monster
We appeared on the stairs of the grand entrance to an ancient shrine. Behind us stood a broken statue, and against the far walls were carved two great faces in the old stone: the Olman gods of the sun and moon. A dark tunnel led further inside the temple. We looked around, but couldn’t see the monster anymore. Sparkillo whispered that even he – with his See Invisible spell – couldn’t see it.
Lagaan triggered the net’s alarm spell with an arrow, and sure enough, the monster once again rose from the water, in all its gruesome glory. Lagaan shot him from the cover of invisibility, but the arrows passed straight through – some kind of illusion? Sparkillo quickly reacted with a spell, and then immediately warned us: “It’s a Projected Image, the real monster must be below the surface!”
But then, the creature shouted dark words in its booming voice. My companions froze and seemed to be momentarily paralyzed by the blasphemy that had just been spoken. I flashed a dark smile. Strangely enough, it didn’t bother me one bit. Thanks to my strong faith in Umberlee, I must be more resilient to this dark magic than my companions with their weaker souls.
I rushed into the water, easily breathing it as if it were air thanks to my divine gift, and I beheld the true monster: it looked just like its illusion, but was cunningly – and cheekily - hiding just below the surface of the water. I cast a Destruction spell on it, the last truly powerful spell I had available, but alas, the fiend survived annihilation and was merely wounded by it.
The great creature winced and shivered in pain and surprise. Clearly, it had not expected one of the heroes to escape the throes of its blasphemy. It shook itself out of its torpor, for I learned later that while it looked through the eyes of its illusion, it was blind with those of its own body, and turned toward me and glared at me briefly with those terrible yellow eyes, before opening its maw wide and breathing a jet of boiling water in my direction. I winced from the pain, but I had endured far worse before, and I survived the ordeal.
By then, the rest of the group had recovered from the shock of its spell and were attacking as well. Raguhl dove into the water, and struck the creature, but then he recoiled in pain. There was an aura of blackness surrounding the monster, and then I understood: it was an unholy aura, protecting it and draining the strength of the creatures of light… Sadly for him, Raguhl was hurt by this, but the rest of us weren’t: Ulfgar rushed the monster as well and struck it with his axe, without being weakened. Both he and Raguhl were bitten by the demon as they approached, though. Most of us were moving very slowly in the water, but Ulfgar acted normally, empowered by his newly found and quite potent ring of freedom of movement.
I cast a Spiritual Weapon spell, and directed the ghostly trident to harass the demon. Sparkillo cast a Haste spell over us, and then the demon drew its dreaded Symbol of Death on the stairs below the surface. Thankfully, we were all immune to it thanks to my magical protection, so it only killed some fish. I cast a Freezing Sphere at the wastrilith, but it had no effect, and I later learned that those beings are immune to cold altogether.
Lagaan approached the monster from behind, and stabbed it with his rapier, but he was bitten by the furious demon. Sparkillo cast a Greater Dispel Magic at our foe, but it failed to remove the unholy aura. The demon then flew up, passed through the surface of the water and through its illusory double, but Ulfgar followed it closely and kept attacking it with his axe. The monster alternated between casting spells and trying to bite the dwarf, but the mighty Ulfgar barely acknowledged the pain and kept fighting courageously. In the mean time, Raguhl, badly weakened by all of the demon’s spells, had been forced to retreat to the shore and take out his bow, shooting at the demon with little effect.
Sparkillo cast a Dimensional Anchor, and a green beam shot from his hands and struck the demon, bathing it in a glowing halo. The demon snarled in frustration, for our cunning wizard had just cut off its best escape route, then cast another Greater Dispel Magic on those of us who were still on the ground, meaning everyone except Ulfgar, and it removed my Death Ward, but thankfully, it also removed the weakness from Lagaan, Sparkillo and Raguhl.
Sparkillo cast some Magic Missiles at our foe, and Lagaan shot it with several arrows while my Spiritual Weapon kept trying to stab it. Finally, bleeding from many wounds, the terrible monster roared a final Blasphemy before trying to escape by flight through the magical net. My companions were once again all paralyzed momentarily by the force of the spell, but just before the demon fled to safety, my ghostly trident killed it! Ah, glorious victory!
A few moments later, a huge roar boomed from deeper within the underground complex. It was so loud that the ground shook beneath our feet, and we all had the impression that we had heard two voices screaming in unison. Had this been the roar of our great enemy, the baboon-headed demon from the magical mirror?
Lair of the Skinwalkers
We took a minute or two to recover from the terrible fight. Eventually, my companions regained the strength that had been sapped from their limbs by the blasphemy. I also healed our wounds, and Sparkillo scanned the room for magic. He didn’t find any secret lair filled with treasure in the water, as I had hoped. Examining the broken statue in the middle of the room, he said he believed it had once been that of Quetzalcoatl in human form. Once again, those three mysterious gods were represented together.
“Hey, I just thought of something,” said Ulfgar. “We could cut off the head of that monster and put it in the portable hole, so I could bring it to Zelkarune’s Horns later!”
I sneered at him. “I don’t want you putting your disgusting crap into my hole!”
“You should choose your words carefully, Belessa,” said Lagaan immediately, and we all chuckled at this. Yes, I’m sure I can look forward to many stupid comments in the future about the rest of the group putting things ‘into my hole’.
We ascended the stairs carefully, but once we reached the top level of the room, we triggered another deadly Symbol of Death that the damned demon must’ve placed there as a trap. My allies were still protected by the mighty wards I had placed on them, but my own had been dispelled by the demon. I winced as the deadly energies of the spell washed over me, and had I been a normal human, I would surely have died instantly. But I am the Hierophant of Umberlee, and protected by potent magic. I resisted the terrible spell, and remained unharmed.
Sparkillo cast a Telepathic Bond on the entire group, and we started advancing cautiously down the hallway. At its end, we could see it opened up into a large room at the middle of which burned a great bonfire. Suddenly, Lagaan warned us that he had heard some sound within.
“Skinwalkers,” he said through the mental link. “Lots of them… I can hear them readying their bows.’
Sparkillo summoned a celestial dog and sent it to scout ahead. As soon as it entered the room, it was slain by about twenty arrows, some of which seemed to be coated with poison.
“Yep,” thought Sparkie, nodding slowly as he contemplated what had recently been a dog, but now looked more like a porcupine. “Those are Skinwalkers all right.”
Belessa, Belessa,
wherefore art thou? Tis been two fortnights.
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Belessa, Belessa,
wherefore art thou? Tis been two fortnights.
Hey!!!
I'm glad to see someone misses this journal. :)Unfortunately, Real Life (i.e. changing jobs) has prevented our DM from playing for the past several weeks. He asked us if we could play the coming weekend, but as per Murphy's Law, now, it was the turn of the players to be unavailable. :(
Right now, it looks like our next game will be on the weekend of october 24th. Such a horribly long waiting time... arrrgggghhh... :(
Marpenoth 2nd, 1376 (continued)
Divide and conquer
My companions and I briefly discussed our strategy for the upcoming fight, and I offered to use my magic to divide our enemies so we could focus on a few of them at a time. I cast a Wall of Stone inside the room, shielding our approach from the left side of the battlefield, and we all charged in together.
A few doors stood along the walls of the room, which had a sixty-foot-high ceiling. A wide ledge surrounded most of the room at a height of fifteen feet, and a flight of stairs led up to it on our right. On the stairs and along the walls were many savages bearing the living lion cloaks of the Skinwalkers. They wielded primitive weapons coated in a sickly green substance which we knew was poisonous. Their dark eyes were filled with fury as we entered their home; but most enraged of all was the one who seemed to be their chief. He was larger than the others, and he wore a more elaborate outfit of furs and feathers. What’s more, he carried a strange sword that glowed with hellfire.
The chief roared a primitive prayer to protect himself from fire magic. The woman next to him, a feral-looking thing with tangled black hair, seemed to be his concubine by the way she hung around him at the start of the fight. It seemed she was also one of the dreaded acolytes, because she cast a spell at us, but fortunately, we were protected from it by a Globe of Invulnerability that Sparkillo had cast just before the battle.
Beyond the huge bonfire roaring in the center of the room, a few of the occupants of the left-most ledge could see us just around the edge of my Wall of Stone. One of them was also an acolyte, but fortunately, the spell he cast at us was also foiled by Sparkie’s magical defense.
I cast a Wall of Ice to our right, on the other side of the bonfire. Since they had the advantage of numbers, I wanted to limit their access and line of sight toward us. And while my Wall of Stone was only ten foot high, the Wall of Ice reached almost as high as the room’s ceiling. It was, however, more fragile. I had no doubt that our enemies would be able to breach these defenses – but at least, they bought us precious time.
Ulfgar and Raguhl charged into the fray, both roaring furiously. Arrows bounced off their mighty armors. Ulfgar engaged the closest Skinwalker, while Raguhl used his deinonychus tattoo to pounce on another enemy with a blur of magical energy. Within a few moments, the foul savage was dismembered by the power of Raguhl’s brightly glowing greatsword, and bloody pieces of his anatomy fell here and there within the beautiful ice cage I had created.
“Skinwalkers, this is your day of reckoning!” roared Raguhl. “The Rakastas will finally be avenged!”
Meanwhile, Sparkillo, Lagaan and I remained behind, hiding close to the Wall of Stone and within the Globe of Invulnerability. Lagaan shot a few arrows, and Sparkillo blasted a Skinwalker on the other side of the bonfire with a volley of Scorching Rays. That Skinwalker bravely traversed the bonfire to get to us in the gap between my two walls, but he was soon skewered by Raguhl despite this brave attempt. An enormous ape leapt from the top of the stairs toward the lizardman, but before Raguhl could even turn around to retaliate, Ulfgar killed the animal with a few swings of his ice-coated axe, and cleaved against the Skinwalker guarding the stairs, killing him as well.
My walls had the desired effect of protecting us from the arrows of the Skinwalkers, but now, most of them had gone down from their ledges, and were making their way toward the gap at the bonfire. I cast a second Wall of Stone to plug that hole, reinforcing a section of my Wall of Ice at the same time. The roars of our enemies, especially of the chief, reached us from beyond the barrier. We started hearing the sounds of their weapons and claws pounding furiously against the barriers. Through the translucent Wall of Ice, we could see the outline of the chief wielding his burning weapon. His attacks were starting to make my wall melt…
Chief of the Skinwalkers
While Sparkillo shot another Scorching Ray at one of our enemies, Lagaan drew his blades and moved into the melee. The female acolyte cast another spell and began flying, and I in return cast a Spiritual Weapon, directing the ghostly trident to attack her. Ulfgar rushed up the stairs, and attacked two Skinwalkers at the top. Sparkillo fired another Scorching Ray, this time at the female acolyte, but she resisted most of it by magic.
The sounds of our enemies’ weapons banging against my defenses was starting to grow louder and louder. Cracks began to appear in the walls. Then, with an explosion of ice shards, the mighty chieftain of the Skinwalkers burst through my wall of ice, soon followed by two of his warriors.
Raguhl and Lagaan approached and a terrible exchange of blows began between the warriors. Howling with animal fury, the chieftain struck Lagaan with a whirlwind of deadly attacks, combining his flaming sword, spiked shield, as well as the claws and fangs of his lion cloak. The rogue was struck again, and again, and again, and within mere moments, he was bleeding all over. The chieftain’s eyes glowed with sadistic glee, as if he were particularly enjoying inflicting pain on a human. At the same time, a Skinwalker rushed past Ulfgar down the stairs, and came to attack Sparkillo, right next to me.
Lagaan retreated behind Raguhl, having miraculously escaped death at the chief’s hands. Some of his wounds were oozing with the greenish poison, but by Umberlee’s mercy, we were immune to the substance thanks to the Heroes’ Feast we had eaten earlier. I waved my hand in the rogue’s direction, and with a quiet prayer, I mended some of his wounds.
During this time, the two acolytes did not remain idle. They both flew over the barriers I had raised, and used deadly magic against us, mostly Phantasmal Killers and Baleful Polymorphs, but thankfully, we resisted it by the strength of our minds and bodies, as well as our magical protections. I wish we could’ve dealt with those two freaks earlier in the fight, but at the time, the chieftain represented the biggest danger. What’s more, I had used my most potent spells against the wastrilith demon earlier, and to erect the stone walls. I had only one truly powerful prayer left at my disposal. I could’ve used to try to slay one of those enemies, but I felt I might need to use it to revive one of my fallen comrades quite soon…
Seeing that Lagaan was in dire need of help, Ulfgar rushed back downstairs with the speed granted to him by his magical boots of haste. He sliced the head off of one of the chieftain’s warriors, and cleaved against the chieftain as well.
At that point, things started to look quite bleak. The corner of my first Wall of Stone was breached, with three Skinwalkers entering through there, while three more of those savages came down from the stairs, which were now undefended. All six of these foes surrounded Sparkillo and me, focusing their attacks on the unarmored wizard. Although the Sparkillo nimbly dodged many of the attacks, he soon suffered multiple wounds from the swarm of blood-crazed assailants. He waved his crystal staff left and right, chanting arcane words of power and blasting our enemies with deadly spells of ice. All the while, I channeled healing energy into the elf, keeping him alive. The Skinwalkers were badly frozen by the powerful magic, but they were resilient foes, and did not die easily.
For what were probably just a few moments, but felt like much longer, Sparkillo and I fended off the attacks of those horrible demon-men, surrounded by the whirling madness of their claws and fangs and the blasts of ice coming out of the mage’s staff. What’s more, I felt my body tense from a magical attack, and realized that the damnable male acolyte had tried to polymorph me into something unnatural. But fortunately, my body fought off the invasive magic, and I was able to retain my splendid natural form.
During that time, the chieftain furiously fought Raguhl and Ulfgar. He focused his attacks on Raguhl, but the lizardman was a mighty foe indeed when protected by the gargoyle king’s crown, and he only suffered superficial wounds. After a short but brutal battle, our warriors emerged victorious, with Raguhl cutting off the chieftain’s head with his holy sword.
“FOR THE RAKASTAS!!!!” he roared, holding his bloody sword high.
Unfortunately, the rest of us were too busy to share Raguhl’s moment of happiness. Lagaan had come to try and help Sparkie against the wave of Skinwalkers, but both he and the mage were terribly wounded by our enemies. I desperately used my healing magic as fast as I could to keep the two men alive. My first Wall of Stone crumbled in yet another place, and two more Skinwalkers entered from that gap. We were now completely surrounded. Sparkie and Ulfgar winced as they were subjected to more of the acolytes’ foul magic, but they both survived.
Fire and ice
Sparkillo unleashed yet another Cone of Cold against the three Skinwalkers that had first breached my wall, killing all of them at once. Ulfgar and Lagaan killed another one each, and I was relieved to see Raguhl appear next to me, coming to our defense as well. The tide of battle seemed to be turning in our favor now that the chief was dead.
The two acolytes realized that their powerful spells hadn’t had any effect so far, so they decided to focus their might against Ulfgar, who stood too far to be shielded by Sparkillo’s magic. The dwarf was struck by a multitude of fiery rays, and although he is one of the toughest warriors I’ve ever met, within a few moments, even he seemed to be in danger, so I used one of my last remaining prayers to protect him from fire.
Around me, my companions kept killing the Skinwalkers; three more perished their attacks. The last one of them, a wild-haired woman, passed next to me and Raguhl, ignoring the pain she suffered as the barbarian struck her with his glowing white sword. She stabbed Sparkillo with her spear, blinded with rage and wanting only to kill one of us before expiring. Fortunately, she never saw her wish fulfilled, as Sparkillo stepped back and unleashed a volley of his own Scorching Rays against the woman, burning her alive!
At long last, we turned our attention toward the last two enemies still living: the acolytes flying above us. Our two warriors still had Fly spells active on them from our fight against the demon, so Ulfgar flew up to engage the male acolyte, while Raguhl rose to battle the female, who was still being attacked by my Spiritual Weapon as well.
The two shamans desperately tried to dispel the magic that allowed our warriors to fly, but they were unable to, and they wasted precious time attempting to do that, while our raging berserkers hacked at them with their blades. Lagaan shot arrows from below, and Sparkillo helped as well with Magic Missiles and a Lightning Bolt.
The savages then realized that they were doomed – their allies were all dead, and they were bleeding from many wounds. They had lost this battle, in their very homes. They retreated under the cover of invisibility, but thankfully, I had still one last spell at my disposal potent enough to foil them. I spoke the prayer to create an aura of Invisibility Purge around me, revealing the presence of the fleeing casters to our warriors. Thanks to this, they did not manage to escape. The female was mercilessly butchered by Raguhl, and the male died with one of Lagaan’s arrows firmly lodged in his throat.
To Trouble go the spoils
My companions and I cheered as the last of our enemies fell. We had won again! The mangled corpses of the Skinwalkers of Taboo Island surrounded us. Although they had outnumbered us three to one, we had slain them all!
The fight had been a close one, though. Sparkillo and Lagaan were covered in wounds, and Ulfgar’s armor was still smoking from the multiple Scorching Rays he had been targeted with. Only Raguhl and I had emerged from the fight relatively unscathed. Our Heroes’ Feast had really saved the day, otherwise we would’ve surely perished from the poison coating these demon-men’s weapons.
I quickly healed Sparkillo and Lagaan with what little magic I still had at my disposal, just in case some enemies were still lurking in the shadows, and then we searched the place. Several doors led into rooms to the sides of the great hall. Some of them were foul-smelling barracks where the warriors had slept. A somewhat nicer one was decorated with tiger furs and painted wooden shields, and had likely been the chieftain’s bedroom. Still another room seemed to be a primitive shrine that must have been used by the acolytes. On the bloody stone altar were scrawled some foul prayers to Demogorgon, and human skins were stretched on the walls as decorations.
In those rooms, we found several precious stones and other items of value. We also found some magical items on our opponents, as well as well-made bows. We dumped most of it in the portable hole, to be sold at a later time, but Sparkie kept some bracers of armor we had just found, and Lagaan was awarded the chieftain’s belt of giant strength – since Raguhl and Ulfgar already had some.
We also explored to dusty rooms, one of which led back toward the temple’s entrance. In there, we found some levers and peepholes that allowed to spy on the entrance and control one of the statues. It seemed the device had not been used in some time, though.
We left only one door unexplored: the central one in the great hall’s far wall. We suspected that it led further into the depths below the island, but we were in no shape to face more dangers this day. We all gathered around Sparkillo, who teleported us back to the House of Trouble for some well-deserved rest.
Love the journal, the characters are portrayed wonderfully. At many points Belessa has questioned Umberlees devotion to her. I feel that a change to Tempus, a greater god, would be a smooth transition. Being that, Belessa and Tempus have similar outlooks, and without the fickleness of umberlee. Tempus is also looked on with respect. I would think if a major slight occurred to her from umberlee (like Moretta being blessed from the goddess.)it could push over the edge. However if nothing were to change the read and the story is great. Keep up the excelent work.
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Cool, thanks for the positive feedback!
Yes, Tempus would make a good choice if Belessa were to change her religion. Although it's dangerous territory for any cleric to doubt their god(dess), it seems that Umberlee has kind of taken Belessa for granted and hasn't made a lot of effort to ensure she stayed properly motivated in her faith.
I had several discussions about this with my DM. From a philosophical point of view, I wonder what would make an evil cleric want to worship an evil god who doesn't really make them more powerful than any other god would. The thing in D&D is that clerics of evil gods aren't really more powerful than clerics of good gods. They deal more damage, but they're not as good at healing... but overall, it's not a big difference IMHO. So in a world like Star Wars where the Dark Side of the Force is actually more powerful, I can understand why some power-hungry people would be lured by it. But why in D&D?
Anyway...
As I mentioned before (I think), I considered several options for Belessa: that she would convert to a good God and become neutral, then good. But none of the Good gods in the Forgotten Realms really seem like good candidates for that...
Another option is that she would switch to the worship of a Demon Lord. That might be cool, depending on which one it is. Not if it's Juiblex...
But yeah, Tempus would be a really good candidate, actually. It fits well, as you said. He's not evil, but he's not goody-goody two-shoes either... And she's been resurrected thanks to him. Plus the fact that she wouldn't be shunned by society would be a nice bonus.
I'll mention it to my DM.
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I think I'd prefer the idea of Belessa staying a cleric of Umberlee but becoming a little less evil. I like her a neutral best myself. Personally I Umberlee should be neutral with evil tendencies.
I'm really torn between the notion of making this beloved character more likable by bringing her to the neutral or good side, and the notion of leaving her evil, which is what really makes her unique among the many characters I've played over the years.
If the NPCs in the campaign, and the rest of the PCs, had a warmer attitude towards her, i.e. if she felt they would welcome her with open arms if she abandoned her evil ways, it would be an incentive for her to switch over. However, even if she did so, I bet that Lagaan would still act like a pr*ck just like he does now, Lavinia/Moretta/Liamae/etc would still consider her to be a b*tch... even if she turned Lawful Good. So in a way, I kind of want to leave her evil just out of spite.
Marpenoth 3rd, 1376
Return to Taboo Island
I woke up that morning with a great sense of well-being. Soft rays of sunlight were peeking through the curtains of Manthalay’s bedroom. I lay on my back for a while, thinking about that dream I had during the night. I had been visited by Umberlee. My soul still tingled with the after-effects of her overwhelming presence. She had said she was proud of me, and that I was nearing my goal. With the death of the wastrilith demon, she knew that the great entity living on Taboo Island had been weakened. But it would remain vulnerable only for a short time. We had to hurry if we were to take advantage of its weakness. We had to return to Taboo Island at once.
Manthalay stirred at my side. The previous night, I had told him of the terrible fights we’d fought over the past two days. He had been worried that we had not come back after the first day, since we had stayed in Sparkillo’s Magnificent Mansion instead. As he caressed me, I shared with him the dream I’d had during the night. I could see he was pleased that his lover was in such direct contact with a mighty goddess. Pleased, and a little awed. As he should be… He was, after all, a mere mortal, while I was on my way to transcending such a nature.
After my morning ablutions, I met my companions at the House of Trouble. They had all recovered from the previous day’s wounds, thanks to the healing prayers of my acolytes and of Liamae, who for once had actually done something useful. We were all refreshed and ready for another difficult day of battling the fiends of the island. I prayed to Umberlee and summoned another Heroes’ Feast, as was now our morning routine. Indeed, the potent blessing brought by the divine food had saved us from being poisoned many times in the past, especially when fighting the dastardly Skinwalkers and their venom-coated weapons.
While we ate, I shared with the others the message Umberlee had given me: the great demon of the island was wounded, and we had to hurry to slay it. Nevertheless, we finished our dessert and honeyed wine. Once that was done, I returned to the Meravanchi estate, where two maids helped me into my armor. As they did so, I admired my sublime figure in the tall mirror of Manthalay’s room. The servants had polished my deep blue, shark-engraved armor during the night, so that it glimmered over my perfect body. My long jet-black hair hung on either side of my smooth-skinned face, and the sapphire medallion of Umberlee glinted at the base of my neck. I smiled confidently as I compared my reflection with those of the serving girls, who, despite their young age, were nowhere near as beautiful as me. Poor, useless, plain young girls. Did they realize how futile their lives were?
After giving Manthalay one last kiss good-bye, I returned to the House of Trouble, and Sparkillo teleported us all back to the entrance of the temple. Things seemed much as we had left them. The gigantic corpse of the wastrilith demon was still sprawled at the edge of the water, and the net still covered the entrance, beyond which we saw a dark cloudy sky.
Thankfully, as we had guessed, the Symbol of Death was gone. Examining the ground, Raguhl noticed some fresh tracks: a man had walked by here recently. He had apparently come from within the temple, and gone back in. It seemed we had left one of the Skinwalkers alive after all…
We carefully approached the site of the previous day’s battle, but no traps or enemies waited for us. The corpses and walls of stone were still in the room as we had left them. Raguhl kept on following the tracks, which led to the only door we hadn’t gone through, the one we had assumed led deeper inside the temple. We had been right. Behind it was a long tunnel, where the tracks continued. We progressed carefully, with Lagaan at the front of the group, checking for traps. However, it was Ulfgar who suddenly stopped us after a few turns.
“I don’t like this,” he said curtly. “That floor ahead of us. Look at those cracks. It looks unsafe.”
“Are you sure, Ulfgar? I thought you didn’t know underground places very much?” asked Raguhl.
“Oh, I know them all right!” replied the dwarf in a defensive tone. “I don’t like ’em, but I know ‘em. I’m telling ya this floor looks unsafe! We’d better avoid it.”
Lagaan smirked. “He’s probably just afraid of a cave-in…”
“Nevertheless, we should heed our friend’s warning,” replied Sparkillo.
Ulfgar grunted in gratitude. “Well, I think someone light, like an elf, could go over it without danger. The rest of us are going to have to climb around it or use magic, though.”
All in all, it was a rather easy thing to bypass this challenge. While the light-footed Sparkie was able to just walk over the treacherous floor, Lagaan used his slippers to climb on the walls, and I also easily avoided this with my boots of levitation. Despite their weight, the two warriors also easily climbed on the walls to either side of the obstacle, and met us on the other side.
The tunnel ended in a door. Lagaan examined it, and told us he saw a trap there. I couldn’t detect any magic on it, and after playing with the door for several minutes, the young thief said he wasn’t able to disable the trap. Sparkillo had to use three cantrips to get the heavy door open, and still, no trap was triggered. I began discussing summoning a monster to test the area, but Ulfgar got impatient and simply strode inside the room.
Nothing happened.
I turned a scathing gaze toward Lagaan. “Where’s the trap?” I asked him.
He cleared his throat. “Well… I guess it’s those rusty hinges that threw me off. They looked kind of… trap-ish.”
Sneering with contempt, I walked past him and followed Ulfgar into what looked like a shrine to Demogorgon at first glance. There were offerings before a stone statue of the two-headed monster. But upon closer examination, we realized that the being depicted there was not the Demon Lord: its tail looked more like that of a Kopru, and its tentacles ended in claws. No, this wasn’t Demogorgon, but we had seen this creature before. I had seen it again in my nightmares. It was the being we had seen through the magical mirror below the city of spiders!
This confirmed our suspicions that this fiend was the mastermind behind the Shadow Pearl operation. It seems we are destined to face this monster in battle, in this ruined temple… Are we now strong enough to defeat it? The last time, we were not even able to withstand its glare. I know that the Heroes’ Feast will now protect us from the fear, but will the madness-inducing gaze of its second head cause us to fight one another?
I am not sure what to do against such magic…
But one of the great strengths of Trouble is to somehow survive by improvising in the face of terrible danger. Strategic planning has never been our greatest strength, and somehow we are all still here.
While I pondered this, Lagaan and Ulfgar gathered the valuable receptacles that contained offerings to the demon, and we put them in my portable hole. Before we left the room, Ulfgar opened up a section of his armor and relieved himself on the statue… and for once, he was not affected by a horrible curse as a result.
A dwarf’s greed
Beyond the shrine, we found an old crypt. Ten dusty alcoves opened in the walls; they contained the ancient remains of ten shrouded warriors, standing upright, bearing painted shields. Their faces were covered with golden masks. We could see other valuable-looking jewelry glinting on them. We discussed whether to take these items, knowing that we risked angering the spirits of the dead in doing so. Meanwhile, Raguhl examined the floor and told us that the tracks had gone through this room, but had not approached the skeletons.
In the end, I thought I convinced the others to leave the treasure untouched for now, as I preferred that we keep our energy for the battle against the monkey-headed demon. We started making our way carefully toward the exit, but at the last moment, Ulfgar walked toward the far wall, and took a jade bracelet from one of the corpses. As he did so, the skeleton’s skull fell down to the ground where it shattered in a thousand pieces. Immediately, a terrible howl filled the room. Just as we had expected, the foolish dwarf had awakened the long-dead spirits of these old Olman warriors! Ghostly shapes emerged from the shrouded skeletons, and we found ourselves facing terrible spirits I recognized as wraiths, who could drain our very lives with their touch.
Fortunately, they all swarmed toward Ulfgar, who still held the stolen bracelet. His skin paled as their incorporeal fingers passed straight through his armor and tore off fragments of his soul. For once, his mighty dwarven armor and shield offered him no protection.
As he has done so many times during our career, Sparkillo decided to cast a Fireball at our enemies, with apparently no regard for Ulfgar’s well-being. The fiery orb detonated just in front of us, destroying three of the spirits, and singing Ulfgar’s beard as well. Lagaan and Raguhl advanced to attack one of the larger wraiths. Ulfgar killed one of the smaller ones, and I was able to halt two of them as well, forcing them to gaze in awe at the symbol of Umberlee I brandished.
Sparkie then decided to cast Magic Missiles, a simple spell that is nevertheless quite useful against such forms of undead. Lagaan and Raguhl helped Ulfgar as best as they could, but even their holy weapons passed harmlessly through the spirits more often than not. However, they were eventually able to destroy one of the enemies. Ulfgar activated his boots of speed and fought bravely, slaying another one, but he was rapidly losing his life, as the remaining wraiths drank his life energy. Just in time, I cast a Death Ward spell on him, saving his life.
Now, although the wraiths were still able to wound Ulfgar with their cold touch, they couldn’t affect his soul anymore. They continued trying to kill the one who had desecrated their tombs, even though he was now well-protected against them. The rest of the battle was quick, and soon enough, all our enemies were dead (for real).
I approached Ulfgar and placed my hands on his shoulders.
“That was a very foolish thing you did,” I said, even though I knew he knew it already, and that my words would have no bearing on his future behavior.
“Yeah, but we’re all much richer now,” he answered with a mad, greedy grin.
Using some of my precious diamond dust, I restored the fighter’s life-force, and cured his wounds as well. Meanwhile, the others looted the corpses, and as far as we can tell, we got over ten thousand gold pieces’ worth from it all. I’m actually glad that Ulfgar sacrificed himself for us all. I just hope he realizes that one day I might not be able to save him in time.
The abomination
Next, we reached another tunnel. To either side were rooms with pillars, but the one to the right had no visible issues. Raguhl said that the tracks went to the left. However, we decided to examine the room to the right first. The pillars inside it were shaped like tree trunks with winged serpents coiled around them. One the walls, we saw carvings of Olman warriors fighting dragons. They were led by an archer who wielded a bow of lightning.
Around the room stood three statues of figures dressed in imperial robes, and who bore scepters. Based on their appearance, I identified them as Tonatiuh, god of the sun, Tezcatlipoca, god of the moon, and Quetzalcoatl, god of the stars. The same three gods represented on the medallion that was given to us in Farshore. On the floor between the three statues were drawn three large concentric circles, which each contained sixteen grooves. Within each circle, in one of those holes, was placed a single round stone. Each of the statues had a stone in front of it, in a different circle.
It seemed clear that this was some kind of puzzle, and that the medallion was the key to solving it. But how? We examined the pattern for a few minutes, comparing it with the medallion. The entire thing radiated faint magic, probably some kind of transmutation.
On the circle around the medallion, we counted eleven moons, thirteen suns and twelve stars. Their order didn’t seem to match anything obvious we could see in the room. What were we supposed to do? Move the stones? If so, in what order? In what direction? And for what purpose?
Eventually, Raguhl got impatient, and suggested that we should leave this thing alone for now, and come back later. He said that perhaps more clues would present themselves as we explored the rest of the ruined temple. The rest of us shrugged and followed him outside the room.
The next room we examined also contained pillars, and this one was decorated with frescoes of priests in a city with pyramids in the background. What was strange there were the hundreds of copper rings littering the floor. None of them radiated magic, and Raguhl told us that the tracks hadn’t particularly avoided them, so they didn’t seem to be a trap. We decided to just pass through the room, observing as we did so the stairway that led down, to our left. Ulfgar told us that about forty feet below, it opened into another room. We decided to stay on this level for now, though, and to keep following the tracks.
Unfortunately for our noses, this ended up being a very bad decision for them. The next place we reached was a crossroads which stank beyond belief. It seemed as though a large quantity of diseased corpses had been disposed of nearby. To our right, the tracks continued toward a large set of double-doors. To our left, the corridor was narrower. And in front of us stood a dark room. I decided to shed some light on it before we ventured inside. I stepped back into the previous room, to take one of the copper rings to cast a Light spell on it. As I did so, though, I noticed some tiny writings on it.
“What does it say?” asked the illiterate Raguhl.
“One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them…”
“What??”
“I’m just kidding. It seems to be some kind of magic incantation… But I’m not sure what it’s for.”
“Let me have a look at this,” suggested Sparkie, who took the ring and examined it for a few moments before snorting derisively. “It’s a device used for some form of primitive divination magic. Real beginner’s stuff… It’s utterly useless!”
“All right then,” I said, “since it’s expendable…”
I cast my Light spell on the thing and threw it into the darkness ahead, where it promptly disappeared in a large well that was carved in the center of the room. We approached it, but as we did so, the stench only got worse. Lagaan and Ulfgar, who were the two people closest to it, began retching abjectly. Raguhl and I stayed safely back, but Sparkillo took out his necklace of adaptation from a pouch, and placed it around his neck. Protected from the atrocious odor, he then carefully approached the edge of the pit and looked down.
“Interesting,” he stated.
“Any gold down there?” asked Lagaan in between two spasms.
“No,” replied the elf calmly, “but there appears to be a gigantic organism of putrefied flesh that’s climbing up to kill us.”
Our wizard then decided to test if the abomination was flammable, and he cast a volley of Scorching Rays at it while it was ascending the shaft. Soon, though, he moved back and gestured for us to retreat. As we did so, we saw a hideous blob of foul flesh that somehow crawled out of the well. Even though it was amorphous, it seemed to be possessed of a basic form of intelligence… and motivated by hunger. I was reminded of the horrible living buildings of Golismorga… Only this one could walk!
The warriors and Lagaan shot arrows as they retreated, but the entity approached surprisingly fast considering it had no legs. Ulfgar was able to convince Sparkillo to give him the necklace so he could fight the thing in melee. While they exchanged the item, I protected Ulfgar from acid with a quick prayer.
Then, the thing got so close to us that the smell became almost unbearable. Raguhl and I remained functional, but Sparkillo began to puke. From somewhere above us, some vomit suddenly materialized from the thin air: it came from an invisible Lagaan who walked on the wall, and by some small miracle, it didn’t fall on any of us.
The giant rotten thing still advanced toward us, with our warriors’ arrows sticking out of its flesh, which smoked in several places from Sparkillo’s fiery magic. Laughing madly, Ulfgar stood his ground in the middle of the hallway, and he was soon engulfed by it. Raguhl continued to move back, shooting more arrows at our enemy, while I dragged Sparkillo back with us.
Raguhl shot arrow after arrow, and finally the thing collapsed into a gigantic, amorphous puddle of diseased, rotten flesh. Somehow, I suspect that most of the damage was caused by the furious Ulfgar, who emerged a few moments later from the hideous mass, roaring and brandishing his icy axe, dripping with slime. We retreated into the room of the three circles, and the others recovered from their nausea after a while. Ulfgar was badly wounded, he stank, and his skin was covered with red sores. After a quick examination, it seemed clear to me that he would be affected by filth fever if he didn’t receive some kind of magical healing soon. Using my necklace of prayer beads, I cured him of this disease, and I also healed his wounds.
We had now recovered from the fight, but the way to the rest of the dungeon was still blocked by a monstrously huge mass of vile decomposed flesh. I had no wish to approach it. Ulfgar suggested climbing over it, but several of us protested. Lagaan said we could disintegrate sections of it, but Sparkillo replied that it would drain him of energy to do so. Instead, he suggested I send the remains of the creature somewhere else using Plane Shift.
I frowned for a moment while I considered the strange request, with the eyes of the entire group on me. Then, I began to chuckle softly. I kind of liked the idea. Yes… I immediately thought of the perfect place to send it. The little celestial halflings of Green Fields had probably finished dealing with the Shadow Pearl I’d sent there a few months back, so they would surely have time to clean up this mess as well. I pronounced the words of power, waving toward the mass of flesh, and it vanished instantly.
“Where did you send it, Belessa?” asked Lagaan eagerly.
But I just smiled enigmatically and remained silent.
Splat!
Now that the way was clear, we returned to the crossroads. The bottom of the well didn’t seem to contain anything valuable, at least not that we could see from the top. The tracks went toward the double-doors to the right, but we decided to explore the left side first. The first room had likely once been a changing room for Olman priests. Further down the hall, we came upon a long tunnel that was slightly sloped up on our right, and there was a room with a bloody altar in front of us. The trail of blood led from the altar to a wall to our left, where we easily found a secret door. It led to an old stairway that we decided not to explore for now.
We returned to the sloped corridor, and noticed that the dead end in front of it had many cracks in the back wall. We concluded that there was likely some sort of boulder trap that could be triggered in the tunnel, and that the slope allowed it to crush everything in its path as it sped down. I decided to test this theory by summoning a fiendish centipede. The man-sized insect seemed to glare resentfully at me with its black eyes when I commanded it to go as far as it could up the long hallway, but even if it suspected I was sending it to its death, it was compelled to obey me by the power of my magic.
Sure enough, after a few moments, we heard a deep rumbling, and a huge round stone passed by us and crashed against the far wall of the tunnel. We climbed up the now safe path, passing here and there by some bug juice stains on the floor.
At the end of the long hallway, we reached a room with a four-foot-tall pedestal shaped like a ziggurat. It had a cavity on top, and canals leading to its base. Written on it in the Olman language were the words: “May the blood keep safe the flesh.”
“Isn’t it the other way around, usually?” asked Ulfgar with a dubious expression.
“This must require some sort of sacrifice,” suggested Sparkillo.
“I could summon another creature to shed some blood for us,” I offered helpfully.
“Nah, that’s going to take too long,” said Lagaan before drawing his knife and cutting his palm over the top of the pedestal.
Blood flowed from his hand into the cavity, and then it trickled down the canals. There was quite a volume to fill, though, so he had to ensure he kept bleeding and bleeding to fill it all. With some satisfaction, I’ll admit, I watched as Lagaan’s hand began to tremble, and his features contorted in pain. The experience was a lot more painful than he’d anticipated. But despite that, the little man was very brave and filled it all up with his own blood. By the end, he looked pale and dizzy, but I healed him.
“That didn’t seem to do anything at all,” said Raguhl, breaking the silence and stating what we had all been thinking.
We turned toward Sparkie, who shrugged wordlessly.
“Well, we’ll just have to hope that Lagaan’s terrible suffering will have provided something more than mere enjoyment for us all,” I concluded merrily.
Since we seemed to have reached a dead end, we decided to examine the room carefully. We found that the wall opposite the entrance was hollow, and had likely contained the boulder. But we found no secret compartment in the pyramid, or any use for it. Finally, Sparkillo and Lagaan found a secret door to our right, which led to another long tunnel at the end of which they found another secret door.
This one led us back outside. It felt strange to be on the edge of the jungle, smelling the freshness of the plants, and hearing the disturbing cries of the savage animals lurking in the dark foliage. A thick mist still hung over the island. To our right, we saw the shape of a large pyramid looming over the trees. We recognized it as one we had seen while flying over the island.
“Perhaps we should explore it,” I said.
“Nah,” replied Ulfgar,” there are too many weird animals up here. It’ll be safer inside.”
I smiled and said: “I can’t believe you’d rather be indoors for once.”
So we made our way back to where we had fought the flesh-thing and headed toward the double-doors. Lagaan had been checking for traps in front of us, but somehow, he failed to notice the horrible, horrible trap protecting this part of the temple. A volley of poison-coated spears sprang out of the walls toward us. Fortunately, only one of them managed to pierce my armor, and it only scratched me. What’s more, we were all still immune to poison. However, Lagaan, Sparkie and even Ulfgar were badly hit by several spears each, and I had to spend more of my precious healing energy closing their wounds.
“Good job detecting that trap, Lagaan,” I said with heavy sarcasm. “But the entire group must be learning from your expert skill, because we all found the trap at the same time!”
Death of a bastard
Since the massive doors at the end of the hallway were locked, Sparkillo used a Knock spell to open them. To our dismay, they led to… the jungle. So we had triggered the trap for absolutely nothing!
Each of the massive doors was decorated with the carving of a towering Olman warrior. Now that we were closer to the pyramid, we could see that it was decorated with many reptilian heads with bulging eyes and feathered headdresses, which we’d seen before.
A short discussion followed, where we tried to decide whether to explore the pyramid or the second level of the temple. Sparkillo had no desire to face more Skinwalkers around the pyramid, but Raguhl reminded us of the oath he had sworn to the couatl to rid the island of their menace. Then, Sparkillo, Ulfgar and I talked about the puzzle of the sun, moon and star again while the other two watched the jungle intently.
Suddenly, Lagaan motioned for silence.
“I heard something,” he whispered. “Skinwalkers, that way.”
Raguhl gave a low growl. “We should kill them.”
Lagaan nodded with a grin, and gestured for us to follow. He turned invisible as he entered the jungle, and we followed him at a distance, guided by Sparkillo who had cast See Invisible on himself.
It was quite cumbersome to follow the rogue through the thick undergrowth in my heavy armor. It seemed I was making an incredible amount of noise. Suddenly, though, some screams of pain, and others of anger, erupted from ahead of us: it seemed that Lagaan had shot one of the Skinwalkers!
We heard the sounds of the savages attacking the young rogue, and we hurried to his help. Quite typically of him, I heard him shouting insults at the Skinwalkers, loudly questioning their sexual orientation in Olman. Unfortunately, I was not making good progress. My foot caught on a root, and I fell to the ground. Once I got back on my feet, Sparkillo and Raguhl had already vanished, and I saw only the short, squat form of Ulfgar running through the undergrowth. I rushed after him, and soon caught up with him, then passed him as he tripped on a root as well.
I heard the detonation of one of Sparkie’s Fireballs, but when I finally reached the clearing, I saw a big sphere of darkness before us. It seemed that Lagaan and the Skinwalkers were inside. Judging by the sounds, things did not seem to be going well for Lagaan. Raguhl had his bow out and was looking up, so I understood that there were perhaps some flying opponents. I heard Ulfgar curse as he again fell to the ground, just behind me.
Just as I was starting to gather the magical energy to dispel the zone of darkness, I was surprised to feel some big, rough hands grabbing hold of my rear end. That moron Ulfgar was using me to stand back up! I turned just long enough to punch him in the face, and then I cast my Daylight spell, banishing the darkness. The combatants were revealed: a badly bleeding Lagaan, three singed Skinwalkers, and the corpse of a fourth one with three arrows sticking out of it. At the same time, Sparkillo cast a Disintegrate spell at the flying enemy. I only had time to catch a glimpse of him disappearing in a puff of dust.
Raguhl rushed into the fray to help Lagaan, but at that very moment, the rogue fell to the multiple blows of the Skinwalkers. Raguhl slew one of the enemies with his big sword, and Sparkillo burned another one to death with Scorching Rays. While I healed Lagaan at a distance, Raguhl and the remaining Skinwalker traded blows. But it was Sparkillo who finished off this last foe with some Magic Missiles.
“SPARKILLO!”
Ulfgar sighed as he looked at the fallen enemies. “You guys didn’t even leave any for me!”
While I healed Lagaan, the others searched the bodies of our foes, including the equipment of the flyer who had died by Sparkillo’s magic. Lagaan described him as a tiefling archer dressed like a pirate.
“That was a nice way to kill that bastard, Sparkie,” said the rogue.
Something clicked in my mind when he said that. Something I’d heard before… Yes, a divination! We were at the heart of the island!
“Wait, that bastard…” I said. “He was THE bastard!”
“Huh?” grunted Raguhl.
Ignoring the thick-skulled lizardman, I continued: “Lagaan, do you remember the divination we did together? The one about your father? Past the ocean of many perils, On the island, at the heart of the island, Among danger, at the heart of danger, Awaits a bastard with knowledge of a bastard’s father, For he knows about his only friend.’”
“Yes…”
“I think this tiefling was the first bastard.”
“Are you sure?” he asked with a frown.
“No, I’m not,” I admitted. “It’s just my intuition. I feel this was him. You both said he was dressed like a pirate: he seemed connected to the outside world, unlike those Skinwalkers.”
“Oh. Can you talk to him?”
“No, the mouth of the corpse needs to be intact for my necromancy spell to work. Thanks to Sparkillo’s overkill, you might never learn about your father.”
“Damn!”
Sparkillo listened to the conversation, and now looked rather sheepish.
“Well,” I said, “there’s one other thing I can do. I can resurrect him.”
“Great!” said Lagaan.
“All right, just give me ten thousand gold pieces to cover the cost and I’ll do it.”
The thief glared at me. Clearly, this was too high a price to learn about his father. “… I don’t think so. You know what, forget it! I grew up without knowing my father, I don’t need him now.”
“Well, just let me know if you change your mind. You might want to keep some of that dust just in case…”
The dead bastard’s diary
We finished searching the enemies while poor Lagaan busied himself collecting tiefling dust in small pouch. We found some magical items on the tiefling, but nothing too spectacular. Once that was done, we searched the few buildings at the foot of the pyramid. Some of them were foul and likely served as lairs to the Skinwalkers, but one of them was cleaner and had housed the tiefling. We found his journal there, written in Abyssal, just like mine. Smiling at the similarity, I began reading it quickly. Apparently, the ‘bastard’ had been called Thorgiff and he had arrived on the island a few months ago. He worked for the Crimson Pirates, and had been assigned here as an ambassador to the Skinwalkers.
During his stay here, it seems he amused himself by keeping track of their sacrifices. He must’ve really been bored. Since his arrival, one hundred and sixty sacrifices were made, twenty-three of which were marked as ‘special’. No explanation of what qualified them as ‘special’ appeared in the document, nor the names or descriptions of any of the victims.
With the journal came a ledger that kept track of the Shadow Pearls. In there, forty-four pearls were mentioned as having been ‘sent below for completion’. Of those, all but nine had reached Scuttlecove.
This discovery raised more questions, and we discussed it for a while. I had previously assumed that the pearls were created in Golismorga, but it now seemed they weren’t. Perhaps they were just transformed in Golismorga, using the Black Bile. By our calculations, we now stood just over Golismorga, on the surface. Was it possible they had sent the pearls from down here instead of through the cove that had been guarded by the troglodytes? If so, why had they needed the cove at all, and the (most likely quite costly) alliance with Emragg?
Nine pearls were mentioned as not having reached Scuttlecove. We had taken nine pearls from them: one that we had captured from the party en route to the Aboleth’s chamber, and which I had sent to detonate in Green Fields, and the other eight had been taken directly from Holashner’s Ziggurat.
So thirty-five pearls had been sent to the Crimson Pirates… Yet the Aboleth had mentioned that perhaps as much as a hundred pearls had being traded between the Kopru and the troglodytes. Could we believe that number? Or had it just been another one of his lies?
Also, it seemed that something terrible was brewing in Scuttlecove, the dreaded home of the Crimson Pirates. Even if we were successful in slaying the demon of Taboo Island and shutting down the production of these pearls for good, there were still those thirty-five pearls, at least, that were unaccounted for… Terrible damage could be dealt by the demented pirates with such weapons at their disposal.
Ah, it would have been so useful to interrogate that tiefling, if only Sparkillo had shown some restraint for once!
I decided to question the Skinwalkers instead, which I figured was better than nothing. I cast a Speak With Dead spell on one of them, and interestingly, it was the lion’s head that animated and answered me. I spoke to it in Olman, and in fact, it proved surprisingly helpful:
“What were you doing here?”
“We serve Khala.”
“What is your agreement with the Crimson Pirates?”
”We serve Khala. They serve Khala without knowing it, for the death of the world. For the Shadow Pearls. For Demogorgon!”
“How many Skinwalkers can be found nearby?”
”There are around fifty across Taboo Island.”
“Where is Khala?”
”At the heart of the temple. Deep below..”
“What were the ‘special’ sacrifices?”
”They were deemed worthy of being eaten by Khala himself. They were sent down. The Kopru took them.”
“What was done to Father Innersol?”
”I don’t know who that is.”
“What is the shortest path from here to Golismorga?”
”I don’t know this name, but maybe it’s the name of the place below? It can be reached through the shaft under Tlaloc’s massive stone disk.”
That was interesting. It seemed to point once again to the puzzle of the star, sun and moon. We decided to explore the seventy-foot-high pyramid. It was decorated with statues of the head of Tlaloc. At the summit was a stone circle caked with large quantities of dried blood. Perhaps a blood sacrifice would allow us to activate it if we didn’t figure out the puzzle?
We wondered if possibly this circle had opened long ago, and if it was through there that Tlaloc’s Tear was cast down on Golismorga. We may never know. While we searched the pyramid and pondered its enigma, another Skinwalker walked by, but he was quickly exterminated by our warriors.
Surrounded by the afternoon mist, I stood atop the pyramid, wondering what to do next.
Marpenoth 3rd, 1376 (continued)
Underwater menace
We eventually returned to the darkness of the taboo temple, and made our way down the stairs we had found behind the secret door near the bloody altar. The surface of those stairs was stained in many places with blood and gore, as though the Skinwalkers had thrown body parts of their sacrifices down the stairs. Once we reached the foot of the stairs, we found none of those bloody bits; most likely, the Skinwalkers had thrown down some choice bits of food for the horrors we soon found lurking around here.
We went down another long tunnel, at the end of which we found yet another secret passage. It opened into a large, dark room, whose floor was submerged with dark, stagnant water. The secret door opened a few feet above the water level. To our left, we saw a wide stairway leading up, most likely to the first level, while to our right, two other tunnels led into the darkness.
Since we weren’t sure of the depth of the water, and whether something dangerous might be lurking within, I cast a Walk on Water enchantment over the entire group. We carefully entered the room. I tested the depth of the water with my trident: the liquid was oily and foul, and it seemed to be around four feet deep near the wall.
We started making our way toward the right-most tunnel, keeping a wary eye on the surface of the dark water, and as we suspected, we were soon attacked. Three large, misshapen toad-like creatures emerged from the depths at the center of the room. Their bloated bodies were covered with thick, warty green skin, and their glassy eyes gleamed with malevolent madness as they turned to face us. I had seen creatures such as these before, in the court of Umberlee deep under the sea: they were Hezrou demons!
Although some of these creatures served my goddess, I was under no delusion that I could negotiate with the three monsters now opposing us. They were surely allied with the other demons of the island.
Ulfgar charged one on the left, and Lagaan shot one on the right, but their weapons didn’t seem to harm the creatures as much as they should have.
“Those are Hezrou demons,” shouted Sparkillo, “it takes holy weapons to hurt them! They’re immune to electricity and poison, and can cast Blasphemy!”
Knowing that these beings might try to escape or go warn their master, I cast a Dimensional Anchor on the one Lagaan had shot. A green glow surrounded the fiend, who growled as it turned its gaze toward me.
Raguhl roared, and his silhouette became a blur of movement as he activated his dinosaur tattoo. Within a blink of an eye, he was upon the left demon, skewering it with his brightly glowing holy sword. The monster shrieked in pain, as the furious lizardman cut off one of its arms and sliced open its belly, causing the demon’s entrails to spill out into the foul water. They were boiling from the contact with the blessed weapon…
Yet the demons had powers of their own… My companions and I were hit by three mighty spells in unison: a Blasphemy, an Unholy Blight, and a Chaos Hammer. As I am protected by my mighty goddess, the first two did not affect me at all, and I valiantly resisted the dazzling colors of the third spell. My companions, thought, were much more vulnerable to demonic magic, and were left dazed and weakened: damn them and their refusal to adhere to a worthwhile religion! I would’ve expected at least Ulfgar to have resisted the dark magic, but even he fell prey to it, just like the others.
So it fell upon my shoulders once again to save the day. I surrounded us with a zone of Silence, so they might be spared from any further blasphemies. I had placed it so Sparkillo and I were on the edge, but I pulled him within for a few moments. As he was dazed and weakened, he gave no resistance. My strategy worked well: even though Lagaan and Raguhl got mildly wounded as the demons clawed them in their weakened state, we were all immune to the blasphemy the first demon – the one Raguhl had almost killed – uttered.
The others finally recovered. Ulfgar activated his boots of haste and struck with his berserker’s fury, helping Raguhl against the third demon, which had moved to protect its “friend”, the almost dead first demon.
Meanwhile, Lagaan was being attacked by the second demon, the one that glowed green due to my spell. Although the thief had been able to shoot a few arrows at it, once the demon closed in on him, he was overpowered by the terrible stench that surrounded it. Nausea gripped him again, and he would’ve thrown up if his stomach hadn’t been empty already, due to the stink of the diseased flesh-thing upstairs. But whatever – he was mostly useless in this fight. It was all he could do to tumble out of the monster’s reach. The demon soon realized what little threat Lagaan represented, and turned to face some more potent foes; namely, myself and Sparkillo.
Indeed, I had momentarily stepped away from the zone of silence to utter my own terrible spell: Destruction! The first demon, already badly wounded, writhed in agony as the magic consumed it, until there was nothing left of it. As the second demon approached us, Sparkillo tried to paralyze it with a spell, but the creature resisted it. Soon, the towering, flabby monstrosity was upon us, its foul stench assaulting our nostrils, but thankfully, we were able to fight off the nausea. Once the demon exited the zone of silence, it uttered another Blasphemy, which shocked my elven companion numb once again.
Thankfully, by that time, the two warriors had killed the third demon, and rushed to help us. The second demon had the time to cast one more Unholy Blight which mildly hurt my companions before it fell, slain by the warriors’ blades, Lagaan’s arrows, and Sparkillo’s Magic Missiles.
It was a difficult battle, but we had prevailed. To think how powerful we would be against such demons if my companions all worshipped Umberlee, and were all protected from the magic of the Abyss! Ahhh… Were I blessed with a better choice of comrades in arms…
I healed the others, and we discussed the possibility that the demons might be keeping some treasure in the deeper cavity at the center of the room. After all, they had been hiding there before the fight. However, since we were all under the effect of a water-walking spell, we could not dive underwater. We decided to search the area tomorrow.
Cascade
We entered the tunnel to our right, still treading on water. We left the stench of the demons’ room and found a new type of foul odor, this one more acidic in flavor. We’ve encountered so many disgusting beings in our adventures that one would think we’ve run into all possible types of foul smells, but no, it seems that we keep discovering brand new kinds of stink the deeper we delve into this dark temple.
There were many two-foot-wide holes in the walls of the tunnel around here, and we obviously suspected a trap of some kind. Lagaan approached the closest one carefully, but was immediately attacked by a kind of … blob, for lack of better word. It seemed to be a thick tentacle made of goo, and it immediately engulfed the danger-prone little thief in its foul bulk. Thankfully for Lagaan, I was also very quick to act, and I was able to bless him with a Freedom of Movement before he was dragged back into the narrow hole to be devoured at a foul monster’s convenience, thereby saving his life for the thousandth time.
Sparkillo also spoke quickly the words of a Hold Monster spell, and the gooey tentacle suddenly stood frozen in the air, unable to retract into the hole. The warriors moved to slice it with their weapons, but the wizard stopped them with a frantic gesture.
“Hold your blades, my friends,” he said quickly. “This foulness is called an Ochre Jelly, and wounds caused by slashing weapons only cause it to split into more monsters. Rather, we should burn it or smash it with blunt weapons!”
And this is exactly what they did, easily getting rid of the mindless blob, while Lagaan wiped some goo off his armor and cloak.
Further in the tunnel, we reached a square room, which was still filled with water. There was a door in front of us, and the walls were decorated with pictures of fanatics and sea creatures that didn’t bear any resemblance to any of Umberlee’s servants. It was the first time I saw depictions related to the Olmans' sea god.
The water here was even fouler and oilier than elsewhere, and Lagaan explained that an ancient trap had likely been triggered here long ago, spilling some oil on the water, which had until now never been lit. We were, of course, immediately wary of a trap that could’ve created some flames, but the rogue assured us that the door was now untrapped. The warriors strained mightily to open it, but in vain: it was stuck. Sparkillo then carefully opened it with a spell, fearful of a fire-based trap, so we were all completely caught by surprise when we felt the water below our feet rush down the opening: there was no water on the other side!
Some of the others were able to grab hold of something so they wouldn’t be carried away, but Raguhl and I were swept away by the current. It was a weird sensation, riding this torrent of dark water, but staying above the surface at all time thanks to my magic. We soon found ourselves cascading down a dark tunnel. Before and below us, an opening in the tunnel glowed with a hellish red light, growing larger and larger by the moment.
The rush of the water carried us into a huge natural cave that was filled with steam and heat. The flow headed down toward a huge lake of boiling water that looked as hot as lava. Thankfully, at last, the lizardman and I were able to grab hold of a huge stalagmite that stood in the way, and we held on for dear life for a few more moments, until finally the flow of the water calmed down, as most of the water of the upper level had likely drained down the stairs.
Raguhl and I climbed back to our feet and looked around. The cave was huge, and filled with mist, so we couldn’t see its entirety. There were bubbling lakes of boiling water all over the place, with natural stone bridges spanning over the searing morass. Here and there, geysers erupted in the superheated liquid, and the cave was adorned with countless stalagmites and stalactites, some even touching each other in places, and forming great natural pillars.
“Are you all right down there?”
It was Sparkillo’s voice, echoing from above.
“Yes, we’re all right!” shouted back Raguhl.
I couldn’t tell why, but I would’ve preferred the barbarian hadn’t shouted so loud. I felt something disturbing down there. Some kind of vague premonition… Or the memory of a shadow that never was.
“This is a strange place, huh?” he said.
“Yes… We should go back… I have a bad feeling about this place.” I replied. What’s more, even though Raguhl couldn’t feel it thanks to his magical ring, it was unbearably hot there.
We climbed the wet stairs and joined the others. They had found another passage beyond the stuck door, but in the middle of it, a wide shaft led down to the boiling cavern, and blocked the way. We decided to return to the Hezrous’ chamber. The water had indeed been drained from the area, except at the center of the room, which was much deeper, as we had guessed. We couldn’t see what lay at the bottom, beside the corpse of one of our enemies. Using my trident, I looked for some treasure, but found nothing by touch.
We decided to explore the other tunnel. First, we found a few old cells and a torture room. All had been flooded until just recently, and we noticed some white cave fish flopping around, dying now that the water was gone. Further in the tunnel, stairs led up to a raised section of the passageway, and back down again, a feature that made Ulfgar rather perplexed. Beyond it was another section of tunnel with a door at the end. Once again, Sparkillo stopped us, pointing out the green slime covering the surface of the water. “Very dangerous stuff,” he called it, and he burned it with his magic, until it was finally safe to pass.
Lagaan walked on the walls of the tunnel to go open the door, but it was stuck, just like the last one had been, so Sparkillo had to use another spell to open it. Beyond, we found an old room with a stone desk and stone shelves upon which were stacked some ancient clay tablets which contained some lore about the old Olman culture. They were quite fragile, but apparently, could be sold for a good price to some historians in Sasserine. We delicately put them in the portable hole for now.
Sparkillo also discovered a secret compartment in the desk, and within, we found some gold and gem-inlaid statuettes, as well as a magical dagger that the wizard identified as a human-bane dagger… I felt a shiver go down my spine as I looked at the vile weapon. Surely some zealous priests of old must’ve used it for sacrifices. I’ll pass, though. I’d rather keep using my own sacrificial knife than to risk cutting my finger on such a blade…
Cursed wounds
We returned to the place where Raguhl and I had been carried away by the torrent, and easily crossed the shaft leading down into the heated cave. Only Sparkillo remained behind for now. We followed a tunnel leading to a door, which opened onto another long corridor. At the end of this one was a square room with a floor made of blue ceramic tiles. At the center of the ceiling, we could see a trap door, and at the corners of the room were four large statues representing many-armed reptilian creatures.
Once again, Lagaan proved his uselessness by triggering a trap as he entered the room. Yes, he had failed to see that one as well… An old bronze portcullis fell from a cavity over the entrance, trapping the hapless thief, as well as Ulfgar, within the room. Immediately, the four statues animated and attacked our companions. Ulfgar bravely raised his axe and shield against the onslaught, but the cowardly Lagaan turned invisible to escape the danger!
While I started casting one of the few spells I still had at my disposal, Raguhl emitted a loud roar at my side, and quickly destroyed the portcullis, joining Ulfgar in battle. A few moments later, I finished my summoning and an air elemental, a creature of the storms, also appeared in the room to help the warriors. However, I was disappointed to notice that it barely did any damage to our opponents. Yes, so mighty are the warriors of Trouble now that even the forces of the elements seem paltry in comparison.
Sparkillo had heard the commotion and joined us after a few moments, flying down the hallway. He identified the statues as clay golems, which were immune to most of his magic, and mine as well. So we conserved our magical power and merely watched as Ulfgar and Raguhl destroyed one statue after the other. Eventually, they were victorious, but at a heavy cost: both were badly wounded. What’s more, Sparkillo explained that these ancient constructs dealt cursed wounds to their enemies, and that they were very difficult to heal. Indeed, even though I used my two most potent healing spells on the warriors, none of their wounds were cured!
Lagaan’s disembodied voice came from above: “Hey, this trap door doesn’t seem trapped, should I open it?”
“No, you fool!” I snapped. “Can’t you see that Ulfgar and Raguhl are still badly wounded? I have no more energy to heal them today. We must return to Farshore, so I can pray to Umberlee.”
It was unfortunate that we had to return, as Sparkillo still was able to cast many spells, but the many encounters we had faced that day had completely drained me of healing energy: the rest of the group had simply gotten so badly beaten up… We gathered around the elf, and he teleported us to the House of Trouble. We separated after I told them to meet me at the temple tomorrow morning. I spent the rest of the day at the mansion resting from the day’s ordeal, and reading the Tiefling’s journal more careful; I did not learn anything more from it, though.
Marpenoth 4th, 1376
The Zombie Master’s wisdom
Even though Umberlee had urged us to strike quickly against the wounded demon, we had to take the day off today to patch up our warriors. They came to meet me at the church this morning, both still in a sorry shape. Sparkillo was with them as well, and as is often the case, the elf looked sickeningly joyful.
“Good morning, Belessa, I’ve got some wonderful news!” he said, waving the tablet of the sun and moon around.
“Really?” I asked skeptically.
“Indeed, a wise old Olman named Tabukto passed by the House of Trouble last night. I’ve heard that he’s the oldest Zombie Master of the seven villages. It seems that he came to perform some sort of primitive blessing ritual on Ulfgar, who for some reason was convinced that the old shaman was in fact Lagaan.”
“Err… yeah, that was just a misunderstanding…” grumbled the dwarf.
“Well, once the ritual was over, I consulted the old sage regarding the Tablet of the Firmament, and he offered an interesting perspective on the whole thing. Indeed, he pointed out that Quetzalcoatl, the serpent god, is coiled as if to show a clockwise turn… Which seems to indicate that this is the direction we should be moving the stones, following the sequence outlined on the outer circle.”
I looked at the tablet and nodded slowly. Indeed, it made sense.
“What’s more,” continued Sparkie, “he hinted that the bow depicted at the center of the tablet likely symbolizes a reward of great power that the benevolent Olman gods will surely bestow upon us once we solve the puzzle. We can hope that it will be a great boon indeed, although I admit I would prefer a staff of great arcane power to a mere magical bow, to be honest…”
Once that discussion was over, I chanted some potent powers to Umberlee, in front of her sacred altar, and this time, I was able to heal the wounds of the two warriors. We agreed that we will return to Taboo Island tomorrow. Until then, I will spend the rest of the day in prayers, for Umberlee to watch over us as we get closer to our dreaded nemesis.
Marpenoth 5th, 1376
The Nimbus Bow
The sun rose, bringing another beautiful morning for Farshore. Most people calmly went about their day-to-day activities, in perfect safety. There were, however, five inhabitants who left the village that morning to return to a place of darkness, terror and danger. These five people were us, the members of Trouble.
We appeared within the room with the three circles and the three statues of the Olman gods. We believed we had the key to this strange puzzle, now, and we went through the preparations one last time, talking to each other mentally through Sparkillo’s Telepathic Bond. While the rest of us stood around the circle, Lagaan moved the stones in the specific sequence we had identified. When the last one fell into position, a strong of wind suddenly blew around the room, as if we were standing in the heart of a storm. A spray of stars surrounded Quetzalcoatl’s statue, while Tonatiuh’s was bathed in bright sunlight, and Tezcatlipoca’s was illuminated by a silvery moonbeam.
Over the howl of the storm, and our own mental voices, we heard the voices of the three gods within our minds. Although they weren’t actual sounds, they felt deep and wise. The words were in Olman, and somehow, we knew whom each voice belonged to.
“Our worshippers are few,” said Quetzalcoatl, “and soon we will move on from this world. None of our children survived to save our ancient home from evil, and rebuild our glorious civilization. Still, we can help you, strangers. The coming fight is both revenge for the past, and hope for the future. Heed our words.”
“In time of need,” said a wise voice that we somehow felt was Tonatiuh, “call the hawk to hunt your enemies.”
“In time of need,” said a gentler voice that was Tezcatlipoca’s, “call the wood to bend hostile weapons.”
“In time of need,” said Quetzalcoatl once again, “call the wind to cut down the wings of evil.”
“Take the bow of Makutotnal,” said the three voices in unison, “Hero of the Olman People and first ruler of Tamaclan, and use it well against evil!”
As they said this, the glowing outline of a bow appeared in the center of the room, hovering a few feet above the floor. The wind stopped, the lights faded, and the voices of the Olman gods were not heard again.
Lagaan carefully approached the glow, but soon discovered that it was only light, and was not an actual item one could use.
“How disappointing,” said Sparkie, “I had hoped for something more potent than a mere bow. Ah well.”
“There must be something we can do here,” said Raguhl. “Who was the hero they spoke about?”
“Makutotnal was the hero showed in these carvings, obviously,” replied the mage. “He wielded a divine artifact called the Nimbus Bow. It was with this weapon that he performed many legendary feats, the most well-known of which was the slaying of a clan of Linnorms.”
“Linnorms?”
“Wingless dragons…”
“So I guess the gods’ reward to us is this Nimbus Bow…” said Lagaan. “But then…” The thief examined the glow more carefully, and lifted his own bow toward the image. He placed it over the hovering image, and as soon as the two occupied the same space, a discharge of divine energy coursed over Lagaan’s bow. When he lowered his arm, his bow had changed in appearance to match that of the Nimbus Bow. Instead of a rope, a thin band of lightning crackled between the two extremities of the shaft.
“Woah…” said Lagaan.
Sparkillo approached to identify the item, and through his magic, he discovered that the bow had several abilities matching what the gods had said: it could summon an arrowhawk, and control the wind and wood. What’s more, it was much more powerful than it had been before, and had the potential to add shocking energy to the arrows Lagaan would fire from it. Surely, this was a very potent weapon, and with it, Lagaan might actually have a chance of earning my respect for his new prowess in battle.
The oysters of doom
Armed with this divine weapon and knowing that the three Olman gods watched over us, we went down the wide stairs leading toward the lower level. They did not bring us directly to the Hezrous’ room, but rather, to a large landing decorated with many ancient, crumbling clay statues of Olman warriors. Another set of stairs led further down into the darkness, and a tunnel opened on the side. First, we returned to the Hezrous’ room, which was much as we had left it two days before. We wanted to search the bottom of the murky, stinking pit at the center of the room, which was still filled with water, but of course, nobody volunteered for the job. After a few minutes of arguing, we were able to convince Sparkillo to perform this dirty deed, since he was the one who possessed the necklace of adaptation. The wizard lowered himself into the opaque water (which was tainted by the rotting corpse of a Hezrou), and reappeared a few minutes later.
He looked quite furious… and slimy.
“I found exactly two things down there,” he explained. “The first was Jack, and the second was S&+!…”
Then, he cleaned himself up with a cantrip, and we climbed back upstairs and entered the tunnel. It led to a room with a dark stairway leading down. In the room were eighteen large urns, all of them closed. There were also fishing nets and big, sturdy pliers placed there. All of it seemed somewhat recently used, so they were likely the possessions of the new inhabitants of these ruins, and not remnants of the Olman civilization. The pliers were quite large and would require great strength to be used. Had they been used by the Hezrous, or the Skinwalkers, we wondered?
Always the curious one, Ulfgar decided to smash one of the urns with his axe (rather than, say, opening it like any normal person would do). As he did so, the thing shattered, and a foul-smelling swarm of disgusting insects sprawled over the floor. Some of them skittered in various directions, while others remained in place, dead. It seemed that a great quantity of the things had been stuffed within the urn, and many of them had died there.
Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I immediately activated my boots of levitation so I wouldn’t come in contact with the vermin. The others squashed a few of them under their boots.
“Hmm,” grunted Raguhl, “those insects are unlike any I’ve seen on the island or in this temple.”
“They indeed seem quite unusual in appearance,” said Sparkie. “For I believe that these creatures, like so many we have already encountered, come from the Abyss.”
“Abyss insects? They brought Abyss insects here? But why?”
“Perhaps they are to serve as food for something,” I replied. “Perhaps for the Hezrous, or some other monstrosity we have not yet encountered.”
“I wonder what’s in the other ones!” said Ulfgar gleefully, moving to smash a second urn.
“Don’t break them!” said Raguhl, moving in front of the dwarf. “Let’s try to guess their contents first. There might be something important and fragile inside.”
One by one, we lifted the urns and shook them gently, trying to guess what was inside. They had different weights, and seemed to contain different things. Some contained liquid, some contained metallic objects, while others seemed to contain more vermin. Raguhl opened one which contained shuddering red mud.
“Let me guess… this is mud from the Abyss?” said the lizardman.
“Indeed,” replied Sparkillo.
Another urn contained stinking liquid. “This, too, comes from the Abyss,” said the mage. “More specifically, it comes from Gaping Maw, the realm of Demogorgon.”
The others nodded. “Maybe these are ingredients to build some kind of construct?” suggested Lagaan.
“Of that, I am not sure,” replied the wizard.
“Wait a minute,” I said, for I had noticed something unusual. “Ulfgar, you didn’t flinch when we said DEMOGORGON.”
The dwarf looked at me and nodded slowly. “Hey… it’s true.”
“Perhaps we need to say it out loud,” I said, speaking with my mouth for the first time yet, since we had all been communicating telepathically all this time. “DEMOGORGON.”
Again, Ulfgar did not flinch.
“DEMOGORGON… DEMOGORGON…” said the others in unison, with no effect on the dwarf.
“Well, I guess I’m cured from that curse, at least!” said Ulfgar with a grin. “Any idea why?”
“Perhaps the Olman gods lifted the curse as a reward… Did you feel any different after the event?”
“Not really…”
“Hey Ulfgar,” said Lagaan, holding his waterskin, “wanna try some beer?”
The dwarf cautiously smelled the beer within, and took a sip, which he promptly spit back on the ground. “No,” he said darkly, “Umberlee’s curse still affects me.”
“Well that’s a shame,” I said.
I looked around at the nets and giant pliers here, and wondered if they were perhaps used to open giant oysters. Could the denizens of this place have been using the foul substances and demonic vermin here as food for strange oysters that produced the pearls that served as raw material for Shadow Pearls?
We went down the stairs, into a large and partially submerged cave, and I saw that I had been absolutely right. Through the dim light of our weapons, we saw a multitude of oysters clinging to the walls, a few of which were huge, at least five feet across. But most of the cave was lost in shadows, so I cast a Daylight spell on Raguhl’s sword. Under this more powerful illumination, we saw that the giant oysters had a truly demonic appearance: their shells were red and black and adorned with thorns and hooks.
“What a happy coincidence,” said Lagaan, “I brought some white wine.”
There were no fish in the water, but we saw a few of the abyssal insects floating here and there. The bottom of the underground lake was also covered with oysters.
Lagaan decided to test the strength of the giant oyster shells, and shot an arrow at one with his brand new bow. It had little effect, though: those things were tough. We approached another one, staying close to the right wall of the cave. Close to the walls, the water was only about two feet deep, but it got much deeper closer to the center. We saw that two tunnels led further into the caves.
Ulfgar approached the oyster and struck it with his axe, but only did minimal damage. “What the…” he growled.
We could’ve just gone back and fetch the pliers, but this had somehow turned into a pissing contest between the males of the group.
“Let me try,” said Raguhl smugly as he took the dwarf’s place. He brought down his enormous sword with all of his strength and cracked the shell, but the thing still didn’t open. With two more colossal blows, Raguhl at last shattered the demonic oyster. As soon as he did so, the oyster let out a horrible, pitiful cry of pain and fear (through which orifice, I do not know). It echoed around the room even a few moments after Raguhl pierced the soft flesh within and ended the miserable creature’s suffering.
Within the giant oyster, we found exactly what we had been looking for: a black pearl the size of a grapefruit, all shiny and beautiful. It was slightly smaller than the Shadow Pearls we had found in Golismorga, but it was just probably not fully “ripe” yet. Surely, this was what the Shadow Pearls must have looked like before their transformation in Golismorga. This confirmed our latest theory: that they were not created down there as we had initially thought, but rather, that they were created semi-normally in this temple (albeit, from oysters fed a healthy dose of abyssal nutrients), and then further defiled by the parasite and the black bile inside Holashner’s Ziggurat.
Our old friends the Koprus
But the cry of the dying oyster had warned the guardians of this place. Before we could continue harvesting the pearls, three kopru behemoths emerged from the right-most tunnel. They were big, slimy, hideous and wore the same medallions of Demogorgon as their cousins who lived in Golismorga. But somehow, the enemies we now faced were even more disturbing, because they seemed to have been tainted by the Abyss, as could be seen by the sharp horns growing on their glistening bodies.
There was enough water in the cave to allow them to slither quickly toward us. Sparkillo cast a Scorching Ray at the closest one, but it had little effect. I preemptively cast Protection from Chaos on Raguhl, knowing that our greatest peril was likely to have our warriors turned against us. The warriors engaged them in combat and Lagaan shot his shocking arrows.
The black eyes of the koprus stared fixedly in our direction, and I knew they were trying to gain control of our minds, although I felt nothing harmful. They must’ve picked other targets.
Suddenly, Lagaan turned toward me, a glazed look over his eyes. Like an automaton, he let go of his bow and drew his swords to attack me. I prepared to break his mental domination with a spell, but as I did so, Sparkillo stepped to the side and blasted two of the koprus with a Lightning Bolt, which killed one of them. Immediately, Lagaan regained his senses, looking surprised to find himself facing me, ready to strike.
We both hesitated for a moment, because surely there must’ve been something inside Lagaan that might have motivated him to attack me, with or without the koprus’ influence. But he wisely decided not to.
Sparkillo suddenly screamed in pain as another kopru grappled him with its barbed tail. I immediately cast a spell to free him from the grasp, and Raguhl was upon that kopru in an instant, killing it swiftly.
The last kopru has suffered nasty wounds from Ulfgar’s axe, and tried to flee toward the furthest tunnel. Sparkillo, however, was quick enough to block the way with a Wall of Ice. The kopru was pierced by two arrows from Lagaan, and turned to find the other tunnel blocked by a grinning Ulfgar. Desperately, it dove beneath the surface toward the center of the oyster cave.
“Oh no, you don’t,” growled Ulfgar, diving after it.
It was quite easy for the dwarf to navigate the water, since he was blessed by his ring of Freedom of Movement, so within moments, he came back to the surface.
“He’s dead,” he said succinctly.
We looted their bodies and found that they carried the same equipment as their brethren in Golismorga, including several potions of flying. Fearful of losing his mind again, Lagaan decided to wear his periapt of wisdom instead of his amulet of armor. One can only hope that his jokes will become less infantile from now on.
We went down the tunnel that the koprus had come from and found the cave where they had dwelled. I found nothing magical there, but there were several vials of a mysterious liquid. I decided to keep one of them just in case. Perhaps I shall test it on Avner…
The swimming lizard
We found a submerged tunnel in the koprus’ lair. Raguhl decided to explore it, since I had already blessed him with Freedom of Movement, Protection from Chaos and Daylight spells, and that he could hold his breath for a long time.
We heard his voice through the mental link. He went down a long tunnel and reached a cave that seemed to be the living quarters of several more koprus. He encountered three more of these monsters, but was quite far from us by then, so he decided to fight them by himself, one by one in the narrow tunnel. He slew two of them and pursued the third one, which had fled through one of the tunnels of the central chamber.
While Raguhl was off fighting koprus, the rest of us decided to return to the previous cave and open more oysters. We were entertained by his telepathic growls and grunts and short updates of his progress. He seemed to be doing quite a carnage over there, but eventually, he ran into more than he could handle, and he rushed back toward us. We returned to the entrance of the submerged tunnel. After sometime, we saw the light of his sword and his blurry shape, and once he was close enough, I used the mighty healing powers of Umberlee to close his wounds and restore his vigor.
Raguhl growled with renewed fury and engaged the last two koprus in the tunnel. He took more grievous wounds, but eventually finished them off.
He returned to the surface, panting heavily: a human could not have survived for so long underwater, holding his breath while fighting for dear life. While I healed his wounds, and the others resumed the pearl gathering, Raguhl told us what he had seen. There was treasure and other tunnels leading out of the central cave where the koprus lived. He had pursued the one that had fled his first combat into another underwater cave that led to the surface in a small grotto.
There, he had fought three more koprus, while a fourth fled, calling out to Khala… The creatures had been speaking a dark language among themselves, most likely Abyssal.
Raguhl had used the power of the Gargoyle Crown to protect himself from his enemies, and after a difficult fight, had been victorious. Once the three koprus were dead, Raguhl left the pool and saw that the fourth had fled away thanks to a potion of flying, surely going to warn their master. He returned to the pool to loot the other koprus’ flying potions, but while he was doing that, two more koprus appeared from where he’d come from. He fought and killed them, but they managed to badly wound him. Bleeding, he fled from the flying kopru, which had just returned from Khala’s abode.
Raguhl rushed down the underwater tunnel’s floor (thanks to Freedom of Movement), with the kopru chasing him close behind. Just as he returned to the main cave, he encountered yet another one. He was able to roll to the side to avoid its attacks, and quickly ran back toward us, where I healed him just in time to save his life.
By the time Raguhl was healed and finished his tale, the others managed to loot all six of the giant pearls. We were ready to move deeper into the caves.
Treasures and Tunnels
Since Raguhl had mentioned treasure in the submerged koprus’ lair, this was obviously our next destination. I cast Freedom of Movement and Water Breathing on the entire group, and we began walking down the bottom of the tunnel. The water was tainted with blood, and we passed the corpses of four massive, disgusting kopru behemoths along the way: Raguhl’s victims.
The further we progressed, the warmer the water felt. It seemed that we were approaching the boiling cave. Soon, the temperature reached an uncomfortable level, and I knew that it would not be long before it became lethal, so I blessed the group once again, this time so that we would resist the heat.
We reached the central chamber, and just as the lizardman had said, we found much treasure there, including a vase encrusted with turquoise, statuettes of underwater creatures, coral platters, a box containing many pearls, a flask filled with a healing elixir, and a trident of fish command. Such a weapon is a sacred relic of Umberlee, so I decided to keep it for myself. It is a sign of great prestige among my order, and surely an adequate weapon for a Hierophant such as me.
There were four passages leading out of the room, and we hadn’t explored the second tunnel of the oyster room yet. For some time, we explored these various tunnels. We started with the one where Raguhl had fought other koprus, and looted them as well.
One of the tunnels led to a cave in the middle of which a deep shaft led down into the water darkness, perhaps as far as Golismorga. We did not explore it for more than about a hundred feet. Another tunnel led to the boiling cave, while another led to the lake around Taboo Island.
We finally made our way to the boiling cave. We exited the water and found ourselves on a ledge overlooking the immense area. Thankfully, we were immune to the omnipresent heat, but had a hard time figuring out how to navigate the treacherous, slippery ground that made its way between bubbling pools of water, the geysers, and the fragile-looking stone spans that sometimes crossed over them.
Lagaan eventually convinced us to each drink a flying potion, and so we explored the cave from the air. At the far end of it, we found a wide ledge upon which still stood an old stone throne. On this seat was an ancient skeleton, so old that both it and the throne were fossilized together. We were pleased to notice, however, that the ancient skeleton still bore a beautiful bastard sword and a ring, both of which radiated magic.
We carefully took both items, and much to our surprise, the skeleton did not spring to life, nor did anything terribly unpleasant happen to us. Lagaan had taken the sword, and he was surprised to find it much lighter than it seemed. Sparkie identified it by magic, and spoke a command word. The blade immediately burst into a painfully bright glow. I shielded my eyes from the ignoble radiance, but Lagaan’s somehow remained wide open as he stared at the sword in his hand.
“This, my friends, is a Sunblade,” claimed Sparkie. “These weapons are very rare, and bear potent enchantments against undead and creatures of the shadow world.”
“And it’s so light!” marveled Lagaan. “I never thought such a big sword could be so easy to wield!”
“Indeed, those mythical blades are enchanted in such a way…”
We discussed what to do with the blade. I knew I could not wield it, for even at a distance, I could feel the painful power within it. This blade would not allow me to wield it. Not that it mattered, I had no use for this stupid glowing knife anyway!
Raguhl and Ulfgar are better trained to use different weapons, and they preferred to keep theirs, so even though Lagaan is mainly an archer, and although he already received a great improvement to his bow already today, he was the one who inherited the Sunblade.
Sparkillo then identified the other item as a Ring of Telekinesis. We agreed that I should wear it, as it might allow me to help the warriors in battle by moving items or enemies around. I placed it on a finger of my left hand, replacing my beloved Ring of Sustenance. I felt a strange tingle all over my body as its aura faded from me… It’s hard to describe, but I’m sure I’ll feel something much more tangible when, for the first time in a year and a half, I feel the bite of hunger or the need to sleep more than just a few hours per night.
In the flesh
Beyond the boiling cave, we found another tunnel that led to a dark cavern whose floor was littered with human skulls.
“I wonder what all of those skulls are doing here,” said Raguhl. “Belessa, how do you think they died?”
I shrugged. “Someone… cut off their head? How the hell should I know?”
Raguhl sighed. “I mean, more specifically, can’t you tell, as a healer?”
Ulfgar apparently shared Raguhl’s interest in the skulls’ origins, because he was squinting at them intensely. “Well, some of these are very old,” he said, “but some are quite new. Look, these ones are covered in sulfur from the exposure to the geyser fumes, but this one for example is much more recent; very recent, in fact… There’s still some fresh blood on it, as though the skin was peeled off!”
Raguhl bowed his head and said somberly: “Maybe he was one of Father Innersol’s men…”
We then entered another room containing stone tables and shelves, which supported some vials, urns and some alchemical equipment. We weren’t sure what this was used for, but Raguhl said he saw some large reptilian tracks on the ground.
“Khala…” said Lagaan ominously.
We went through a door at the end of this room and entered a gigantic hall with large pillars and many balconies. A twenty-foot-tall statue stood within, its face marred by a large crack. A pool of stagnant water stood at its feet. A bit further, we saw a dais supporting a large black pearl which pulsated with dark power. Translucent flows of energy swirled between it and the pool.
But of more pressing concern was the huge lizard-like, tentacled abomination with two baboon heads. It was glaring at us, while the six demonic lizards scattered throughout the hall hissed in our direction.
We had already seen this fiend in a mirror.
The time had finally come for us to face the dreaded demon in battle.
“You have caused me much annoyance,” it boomed. “Come meet your doom, mortals. Come and be killed by Khala, avatar of the great Demogorgon!”
“You know,” said Lagaan insolently, “it's good that one of your heads isn't named Derek and the other Tom, because we'd call you ‘The rectum’, which is a pretty s*&&ty name indeed.”
So much for Lagaan being wiser…
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Anyways I'm still reading. I'm enjoying the stuff that happens between your adventures immensely. It won't be long before Belessa passes Tristan and company. Your journal has already done that! Keep up the good work :)
Great, I'm glad you're still enjoying this! Our next game is scheduled for next sunday. I am a worried about the fight against Khala, as his confusion gaze might cause a lot of havoc among our group. Plus those six lizards he has with him... I hope my next update will not include any PC death, or worse... a TPK.
I think the next adventure should be quite interesting!!!
Marpenoth 5th, 1376 (continued)
Terror and madness
Things happened very fast from that point. It was a truly chaotic and maddening experience. It was the greatest challenge that Trouble had ever faced. I can truly consider myself fortunate to still be alive to tell the tale of the great battle that was fought today, against the avatar of Demogorgon. Perhaps mortals were not meant to ever defy such a terrible monstrosity – but the members of Trouble have always been daring and foolhardy, and if we were to die, we could think of no end more fitting than this one.
An aura of great evil permeated the underground temple, and somehow, I felt that we had become disconnected with the material plane – this place hovered somewhere in between our world and the Abyss…
In the very first moments of the battle, Sparkillo protected us with a mighty Globe of Invulnerability, and warned everyone to stay close to him for protection. We had entered the room near a half-collapsed archway; rubble littered the ground at our feet and made movement difficult. It seemed that the wicked gods of the world had conspired from the very start to destroy our band of heroes, by making us appear in the temple through such a miserable entrance.
Khala’s minions, which Sparkillo had described before as Skulvin demons, slowly slithered toward us. Like the koprus, they were amphibians, and poorly adapted to land movement. This was one of our few advantages in this fight. They came around a huge pit that gaped open in the center of the temple; thick vapors of brimstone floated up from this hole. Lagaan fired rapidly at the approaching monsters, piercing one of them with several arrows that crackled with the Nimbus Bow’s deadly lightning magic.
Khala was able to move much faster than his “pets”, and was soon upon us, his great tentacles flailing in our direction. Both of his heads babbled dark curses as the two pairs of eyes glared at us. Suddenly, a cold, cloying miasma of greasy darkness appeared at the edge of our protective globe, which thankfully shielded us not only from this menace, but also from Khala’s terrible twin gaze. Along the wall to our left, we saw the great mirror through which we had seen Khala before… what seemed like so long ago.
The demon hissed in rage when it realized that we were so well protected, and Lagaan chuckled in amusement. Alas, the rogue’s mirth was short-lived.
At this point, I was able to unleash my first prayer of the battle, and a mighty Sleet Storm started raging inside the temple, catching Khala and all of its pets, save one, within its fury. With this, I was hoping to slow down some of our enemies.
Ulfgar and Raguhl patiently gripped their weapons and stood their ground, wisely protecting us from within the globe while Lagaan kept shooting at the incoming Skulvin. Sparkillo cast a Haste spell on us, but it was soon cancelled by the presence of the Skulvin – which we learned were surrounded by a perpetual aura that numbed our limbs and cancelled out Sparkie’s enchantment.
We also felt the globe suddenly vanish: Khala had destroyed it with his own magic!
It is at this point, quite early in the battle still, that things started going badly.
Now that our main protection was gone, the towering demon emerged from the freezing storm and fixed us with its glare. We were still protected from the head that tried to generate fear in our hearts by my Heroes’ Feast, but alas, we had no such protection against the other, deadlier head, which induced madness. I felt a cyclone of emotions and conflicting thoughts try to scatter any semblance of reason from my mind, but I resisted it stoically. Unfortunately, the spirits of my companions were much more vulnerable to such a peril, and one by one, they started losing their (some might say, already somewhat weak) grip on sanity.
I immediately realized that Sparkie had lost his mind, and I tried to free him of this confusion, but even with a powerful Dispel Magic spell, I was unable to help him. Just as I feared, Khala’s magic was far beyond anything we had ever been subjected to.
Sparkie then did something that was really very wise to do in his confused state of mind, but that meant that the rest of us were in rather deep s+%%.
He vanished…
He had teleported back to the House of Trouble. I later learned that he spent some time babbling incoherently in elvish in front of Ulfgar’s girlfriend before suddenly smacking his forehead, exclaiming: “Oh no, I have to go back!” and teleporting back into the temple… but things got nasty pretty fast for the rest of us in the mean time.
Lagaan had a moment of clarity which he used to shoot several shocking arrows at one of the three lizards that were visible on our side of the storm, slaying that creature. Ulfgar and Raguhl charged Khala in unison and struck him furiously with their powerfully-enchanted weapons, roaring their familiar battle cries. But the demon was a mighty foe, and was partly resilient even to those mighty blades. He struck back at the warriors with his tentacles and tail, inflicting vicious wounds. In order to protect my companions from Khala’s gaze, I cast a cloud of Obscuring Mist around us, and could only dimly see the shapes through it.
I heard Raguhl growl in pain, as a Skulvin demon on our left lacerated him with its barbed tail, but before I could rush to heal him, I sensed some strange movement coming from Lagaan. I turned around just in time to avoid being assassinated by his rapier. Instead, the blade glanced off my armor’s shoulder plate, only inflicting a very minor wound. Still, I felt the sting of that weapon’s enchantment, blessed by the zealots of light to be especially harmful to their enemies such as demons, undead, and lovely priestesses of Umberlee.
I could’ve snarled at the boy, I could’ve insulted him or even struck back at him, but I knew it would be to no avail – he was not himself. And Raguhl was in dire need of healing.
We were surrounded by another Unholy Blight, which I didn’t even feel and only caused a minor discomfort to my allies. I approached Raguhl’s indistinct shape with difficulty, carefully making my way over the rubble, and then closed some of his wounds with a healing spell.
Suddenly, the mist vanished, as did some of our other protective enchantments. Khala was still locked in battle with Raguhl and Ulfgar, and although he had taken a few good wounds from our raging fighters, I noticed that they were slowly closing. Still, victory might have been possible if it hadn’t been for the demon’s dreadful gaze: this time, both warriors fell prey to it. I could not see Lagaan, and guessed he had either gone invisible to try to assassinate me again or (very unwisely, as I’d warned him to stay close to me in case we needed to escape by magic) gone around a corner to attack another Skulvin.
Things were truly starting to fall apart now. Ulfgar had abandoned the fight, and was gibbering nonsense: “Rude alert! Rude alert! An electrical fire has knocked out my voice-recognition unicycle! Many Wurlitzers are missing from my database! Abandon shop! This is not a daffodil! Repeat, this is not a daffodil!” And I knew that sooner or later, perhaps even I would fall prey to the gaze of Khala, and then all would truly be lost.
Raguhl’s madness, thankfully, didn’t prevent him from retaliating against the Skulvin that assaulted him. The barbarian’s greatsword sliced open the Skulvin’s throat, and the great beast fell to the ground of the temple, thrashing in agony. We had slain two such beasts by then. I heard sounds of battle to my left, behind a wall: Lagaan was fighting the third Skulvin there, and any moment now, the other three monsters would emerge from my freezing storm. In the mean time, I faced the mighty Khala with only two insane warriors at my side, who were as likely to attack me as they were to attack each other, or the demon, or to flee out of sight and out of the reach of my spells.
I only had an instant to make my decision, for if I hesitated just one moment too long, it might be the end of our lives. I could not save us all, for Lagaan had ventured too far. He was doomed by his own folly, so I left his survival to the mercy of Tymora. I reached out toward the two warriors through the divine currents of my magic, and spoke the Word of Recall.
Alive
We appeared in the cool darkness of the temple of Umberlee, in Farshore. Ulfgar wailed in abject terror and fled toward the shadows behind a statue of my goddess, trying to escape the threat of Khala, even though we were now miles away from the demon.
At my side, Raguhl was blinking rapidly, his tiny mind under the throes of the magical confusion as well. I saw that some of his wounds were horribly infected by the demonic touch of Khala’s tentacles, and would require special healing soon.
“For my own part,” he said suddenly, turning toward me and speaking in an eerily calm voice, “I have never had a thought which I could not set down in words with even more distinctness than that with which I conceived it....There is, however, a class of fancies of exquisite delicacy which are not thoughts, and to which as yet I have found it absolutely impossible to adapt to language. These fancies arise in the soul (alas, how rarely!) only at epochs of most intense tranquility--when the bodily and mental health are in perfection--and at those mere points of time where the confines of the waking world blend with the world of dreams.....And so, I captured this fancy, where all that we see, or seem, is but a dream within a dream.”
I ignored the lizardman’s poetic ramblings, for within my mind (which was still linked magically with all of my companions), I heard the voices of Sparkillo and Lagaan. They had seemingly escaped the confusion by then. Thankfully, Sparkillo immediately understood that we were in the safety of my temple, but that Lagaan was still in great danger, and was fleeing back toward the lava cave. In an admirable display of courage and selflessness, the wizard teleported into the cave to rescue the young thief.
I didn’t understand anything coherent from either of their minds during the next few moments, but thankfully, they both materialized soon afterward, not far from me. Sparkillo had brought them both to the temple. The elf’s robes were torn in several places, as he had been lacerated by Khala’s tentacles, but Lagaan was in an even far worse state, bleeding horribly from many wounds, and on the brink of death. I immediately reached out toward his life force, and closed his deadliest wound, ensuring that his soul did not leave his body.
After a moment, he was safe. We were all safe. For now.
The warriors soon emerged from the confusion effect as well, and we all gathered together at the center of the temple. We looked into each other’s eyes. Trouble had only avoided annihilation by the narrowest of margins today. It was a miracle, and truly a sign of Umberlee’s favor, that we were all still alive. We had known that Khala would be a terrible foe, and had gone on this deadly mission fully aware that we risked our lives. But after facing the demon, we wondered if we would ever be able to destroy him, to avenge the death of Father Innersol and all those Olmans, as well as to ensure Farshore’s safety…
We had managed to slay two of its Skulvin demons, a feat that few mortals could claim, but which wasn’t spectacular either in the grand schemes of things. If we returned to face him the next day, we would likely face another insurmountable challenge…
Things looked very grim indeed. I quietly healed my companions’ terrible wounds, as they spoke in hushed voices about what had happened. Was there any hope for us at all?
Prayers for victory
We spent the rest of the day together in the House of Trouble, carefully going over every moment, every move, every spell of the battle, everything we had in our arsenal, and formulating battle plans for the next day. Even though it meant we were putting our lives on the line again, we could not accept defeat – it was not an option, for Khala would eventually rebuild his forces and invade Farshore. We had to end it, or die trying.
Unfortunately, death seemed the likeliest option.
I had considered asking other people to aid us in this endeavor, but in truth, we knew very few people who were powerful enough to make a difference. Besides, due to Khala’s gaze, any allies we brought with us, or even summoned by magic, would be likely to turn against us under the effect of confusion.
Manthalay, Lavinia, Brissa, Liamae and Bereleth joined us, to help us not only with moral support, but offering their own suggestions about the battle. And as fate would have it, Liamae made a suggestion that proved to be the cornerstone of our strategy for the following day: she offered to cast a Spell Immunity on us, to provide an additional layer of protection against fear and confusion.
Of course! She was right! Such a spell would be the perfect protection in this battle. Alas, I did not possess this power, but with Liamae’s help, we would be extremely well-protected. Yes, with this protection, we felt somewhat confident that we would be able to focus our attacks and remain a unified force, and, the gods willing, prevail against our nemesis.
We went to bed that night, trying to regain our strength and steel our souls for the ordeal of the following day. But sleep took a long time to come... The horrors of the day had made me very nervous, and I wanted to sleep near my allies, so I convinced Manthalay to sleep with me in the House of Trouble that night. My room there was usually used by Brissa, but that night, my friend kindly offered to stand watch outside our door for the entire night, so we would be warned should something dire happen.
Marpenoth 6th, 1376
An end to the madness
The following morning, I woke up early and quietly prayed to Umberlee for strength and fortitude. We all gathered in the main hall of the House of Trouble and ate another delicious Heroes’ Feast. Chochanika, Manthalay, Brissa, Lavinia, Liamae and my two acolytes, Bereleth and Cato, had joined us for this unlikely breakfast.
The mood was somber, for even though the food was succulent, those gathered with us felt that it might be the last meal they ate in our company. I could read the fear in Chochanika’s eyes as she held a shaking hand over Sparkillo’s. A similar concern could be read on Manthalay and Brissa’s faces as they quietly helped me into my armor later on.
As the others gathered for the final strategic discussion, I approached Liamae. At first, there was caution in her eyes, as there always was when we were together. But that changed to surprise when I thanked her for the blessing she was about to perform. She only had enough power to cast it on four of us, and I volunteered to be the one without this protection, as my mind is the strongest of all, and the least likely to fall prey to Khala’s attacks. But nevertheless, I asked her for Tymora’s blessing, for I felt that even though Umberlee looked over me always, on that fateful day, I would need the help of the luck goddess as well.
Liamae smiled in relief, and blessed me in the name of her mistress. For the first time since we met, we spoke in a civil manner to each other. We have come through so much since then; the petty rivalries and childish animosity don’t seem to make sense anymore. Of the Jade Ravens, Liamae is the only one who stuck with Lavinia the entire time, and at least remained as a protective presence over the community of Farshore, and for this she deserves respect.
Then, we performed a ritual during which Sparkillo and I enhanced and protected the entire group with our potent magic, aided by my two acolytes, and by Liamae’s unique and crucial contribution.
After casting a Haste spell and another Globe of Invulnerability spell, Sparkillo brought us back inside Khala’s temple, but this time, in a more advantageous location. Raguhl’s blade glowed with the Daylight spell that Liamae had cast on it, illuminating the hall and showing the terrible shapes of the demons: Khala and his four remaining Skulvins were present, as we had expected. They roared as soon as they detected our presence.
Lagaan shot arrows at one of the demonic lizards as they approached, and Khala spat a horrible mass of blackish goo at Ulfgar, which partially drained him of energy. As the two warriors charged the fiend, Sparkillo barred the right side of the room with a Wall of Ice, and I protected him and myself from any potential energy drain with Death Ward. Lagaan kept on shooting the two Skulvins that were still on our side of the ice wall, but the barrier was soon breached, and a third fiendish lizard came through, attacking Lagaan to our right. Another one came from the left, and flailed at me with a snapping tail that I barely blocked with my shield.
This time, we were sheltered from Khala’s gazes of fear and confusion by the magic of Sparkillo, Liamae and myself: Heroes’ Feast, Spell Immunity and Globe of Invulnerability being the cornerstones of our protection. Sparkillo had also cast Cat’s Grace on some of us with his newfound wand, and it’s thanks to this extra boost of agility that I avoided the demon’s tail.
Khala recoiled from the furious blows that Ulfgar and Raguhl were dealing him; he kept slowly retreating from the warriors’ onslaught, and after dispelling Sparkillo’s protective globe, he cast a Feeblemind spell at him. The wizard’s body went rigid – for a moment, it seemed he had fallen prey to it, but he recovered soon enough, thank Umberlee and Tymora.
The Skulvin demon to our left threatened Sparkillo and I, and it resisted two consecutive castings of Slay Living I unleashed upon it – but it was finally slain by Sparkillo’s good old Magic Missiles. In the mean time, Lagaan managed to slay the Skulvin to the right with his Sunblade and holy rapier, but he had sustained grievous wounds in the process. As I healed him, Sparkillo shot Scorching Rays at the third Skulvin, which had attacked Ulfgar, next to Khala. But that vile monster soon died as well, slain by Ulfgar’s axe, just as the fourth and last lizard finally broke through the ice wall.
We had slain all but one of Khala’s pets, and the avatar of Demogorgon bled horribly from many wounds that Raguhl and Ulfgar had inflicted upon him. Victory seemed to be at hand, at long last!
But of course, demons never play fair…
Khala cursed us bitterly and vanished. Damnation! It had all happened so fast that neither Sparkillo nor I had the chance to cast a Dimensional Anchor to prevent his escape!
In the moment, we all focused our anger against the last Skulvin, which quickly fell before our combined might. But still, victory eluded us: we had failed, and Khala had fled to fight another day! It had all been in vain!!!
Clinging to the flimsy hope that perhaps our enemy had merely teleported close by to regenerate, we quickly explored the nearby rooms while our various magical protections and enhancements were still functional, but alas, the demon was nowhere to be found. We had failed to destroy him yet again…
Our consolation prize came in the form of a gigantic black pearl, not magical in nature, but surely worth many thousands of gold pieces. We also found some chambers that were sized for a human, and which seemed to have been recently occupied. Within, we found some items we were somewhat familiar with, for they had once belonged to Father Innersol. Among them was a glittering suit of chainmail, a metal rod and a blood-stained holy symbol of Lathander. Raguhl muttered a prayer for the old man’s soul. While the lizardman was mourning, the rest of us wondered where the demonic impostor was to be found, but we couldn’t be sure. Perhaps he was outside the temple somewhere, looking for us or for the remnants of the demon hunters.
We took the old man’s valuables, and since there was nothing left for us to do in the temple, we teleported back home… to the safety of the House of Trouble.
The demon’s revenge
Or so we thought.
When we appeared, we were greeted neither by peaceful silence, nor by the accolades of the villagers, but rather, by the horrified screams of an entire population in the throes of terror.
We hurried outside and immediately saw in the distance that our enemy had wasted no time: Khala towered over the frightened townsfolk, butchering them like lambs near the Last Coconut inn. Of course! The demon had waited for a few minutes to regenerate the wounds we had inflicted, and had then teleported to Farshore for his revenge… We had foiled his schemes for the production of the Shadow Pearls, we had slain his followers and his pets… and now he was returning the favor.
We had to finish this now! This time, we wouldn’t let him escape. For the third time, we prepared ourselves to fight the terrible Khala…
Gotta say, I'm still loving the continuing saga of Trouble.
Nice - I was wondering when some one would have the demons shank Farshore. :)
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hehe... :)
We didn't get a lot of "act normally" rolls...
I'm disappointed that we were such NOOBS that we let him escape like that. In our defense, we had to do the second fight in a rush, as we started it close to the end of the game, and both Ulfgar and Lagaan's players had to leave before the end, so we weren't thinking as strategically as for the first fight.
Also, there was a misunderstanding between me and the DM, I thought the Skulvin attacking Belessa was already almost dead when I attacked, so I wasted 2 rounds trying to kill it instead of doing something more useful. I thought it was at like 10 HP, but it was more at like 60-70 HP. Of course, it resisted both Slay Livings (which I expected, since monsters almost always save against my spells), but I thought I would be able to kill it with the 3d6+14 points of damage it took even on a successful save.
Anyway, hopefully next time either Sparkie or I will be able to bypass Khala's Spell Resistance (which I assume is surely insanely high), and prevent him from fleeing with a Dimensional Anchor.
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Actually, looking back, everything I did in that fight was somewhat useless...
Round 1: Death Ward on myself - useless
Round 2: Death Ward on Sparkie - useless
Round 3: First Slay Living on Skulvin - minor damage.
Round 4: Second Slay Living on Skulvin - minor damage.
Round 5: Heal on Lagaan. He was badly wounded, but nobody was attacking him anymore, so it wasn't that urgent...
I should really have skipped the Death Wards, IMO...
Anyway, now the score is:
KHALA 1
TROUBLE 1
Best two out of three...
Marpenoth 6th, 1376 (continued)
Teleporting bastard
When you’re a villager and a powerful and nearly invulnerable two-headed demon attacks your town, common sense dictates that you should try to run away as fast as possible. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Farshore, that well-known strategy was not as efficient as usual that day. Indeed, although one of Khala’s heads caused fear within the hearts of its victims (reproducing the behavior that even a well-functioning brain would’ve dictated), the other one brought confusion, which explained why some townsfolk were fighting each other, or needlessly and uselessly trying to harm the monster with harpoons, kitchen knives, or even their bare hands.
What’s more, as we learned later, Khala had created two illusory doubles of himself in other parts of town, further adding to the confusion. To make things even worse, the sadistic fiend was teleporting here and there, herding the villagers in various directions, toying with them like a demonic cat with a few hundred mundane mice from the prime material plane.
We appeared in the middle of this mayhem. Sparkillo had used a Dimension Door spell to bring us close to the Last Coconut, between the inn and the docks. A few buildings nearby were on fire. Corpses littered the street. Clearly, Khala had been here for a few minutes already, judging from the damage he had done.
One lone defender seemed to be opposing the demonic tyrant: Liamae. The woman was flying at a distance from our enemy, blasting him every now and then with her wand of Magic Missiles. Of course, given Khala’s magical resistance, this was a very poor tactic, but she had exhausted all of her spells and was out of ideas. The poor girl was covered head-to-toe in foul, stinking black liquid that Khala had contemptuously spit on her on several occasions.
Close to Khala were the remains of another brave guardian of Farshore, who had perished before we arrived. Only a huge heap of bones, painted black and red, remained where my beloved Penkus had fallen.
We could hear Lavinia’s voice shouting orders to the south. Manthalay was nowhere in sight. He should’ve been the one rallying the troops. Where was he? For a moment, I feared that he had perished, but my attention was soon brought back to the task at hand: surviving the encounter with the demon.
“So, the great adventurers have come back home for a well-deserved rest,” taunted one of Khala’s heads. “You can rest in peace! Mwaaaaahhhh!”
The warriors rushed toward our enemy, and I cast a Dimensional Anchor toward him, but a foolish townsfolk stumbled against me at the last moment, causing my spell to fail!
One second later, Khala disappeared…
“All right, I’m getting really tired of this b~!!~$&%,” I growled, ramming my shield against the face of the idiot who had pushed me and thereby had allowed Khala to escape. He fell to the ground, his nose bleeding profusely.
“I agree,” said Raguhl, “but if you can prevent him from doing this, Ulfgar and I will slay him once and for all!”
“Hey Khala!!!” shouted Lagaan. “Why don’t you come back and face us instead of running away like a PUSSY??”
We looked around, trying to determine where our foe had gone. We noticed that a few fishing boats had been destroyed by his wrath already. Further in the harbor, the Sea Wyvern was sailing away. We later learned that Brissa’s survival instincts had quickly come into play; she had taken the ship with a skeleton crew to try and make sure it didn’t get destroyed. Good girl. It probably wouldn’t have mattered, since Khala could teleport anywhere, but it’s the thought that counts.
It ends now!
We soon deduced Khala’s location by the new surge of screams coming from the southern gate. Sparkillo, who was flying above us, confirmed that Khala was now over there. He flew back down and teleported us within one of the nearby buildings. Indeed, we could see that Khala was blocking the way, preventing people from leaving the village. The villagers were running away from him like frightened sheep. His attack on Farshore was of deadly efficiency. So much so that I can’t help but wonder why he didn’t attempt it before, especially since he had been scrying on us the entire time…
Khala taunted the panicked villagers with one head, while the other one kept spitting the vile goo on them. The nasty substance was even more dangerous on such weaklings than on Ulfgar or Liamae. Khala hadn’t yet noticed that we were now inside the building. From the corner of a window, Sparkie cast a Dimensional Anchor, and hit the demon with its ray! Khala roared in surprise as the green aura of the spell surrounded him. We immediately left the house: Ulfgar and I went out the door, while Raguhl climbed out of a window. Unfortunately, Ulfgar and I had to struggle through the fleeing crowd to get to Khala. Those useless fools didn’t even realize that they were hindering us, their only hope of survival!
Raguhl was much faster than us, and he wounded Khala with his sword. The demon flew out of reach, and summoned an enormous spider that shot deadly rays of energy out of its many eyes: a retriever! As soon as the creature appeared, it shot a beam of fire at an unfortunate fisherman, who burst into flames. At my side, Ulfgar drank a potion of flying, and then I saw Sparkie and Lagaan appear just beneath Khala; Lagaan shot several arrows at the demon, one of them penetrating deeply into his skin.
While the two warriors flew up toward Khala, poor Sparkillo was hit by two attacks at once: a jet of black spit from Khala, and a black ray from the retriever. Thankfully, he survived both. He attempted to wound Khala with Magic Missiles, but the demon resisted the spell. Lagaan turned his attention toward the retriever and shot arrows at it.
Ulfgar and Raguhl were now in close proximity to Khala, and were dealing massive damage to the demon, like none had been able to before. Soon, the demon was bleeding from several nasty wounds. Meanwhile, I was summoning an air elemental to help them. Khala hit Ulfgar with several attacks, but the dwarf was tough and kept on fighting.
Then, something struck the back plate of my armor, and I realized that some poor fool was attacking me. His feeble blows couldn’t even get past my armor, so he didn’t break my concentration, but for a moment I considered using my ring of telekinesis to direct him toward the retriever’s slavering jaw. Another ray was shot by the monstrous spider; this one hit Lagaan, who barely avoided being turned to stone.
Then, Sparkillo shot his own deadly ray of energy at the hideous arachnid, and it was instantly disintegrated by his powerful magic!
My elemental appeared near Khala and helped the two warriors, who were doing an admirable job against the demon, protected as they were from his magical gaze. The elemental would normally have been considered a strong creature, but compared to Khala and the members of Trouble, it was reduced to the status of mere annoyance. I approached the melee from the ground level, standing almost directly underneath Khala.
Suddenly, the demon disrupted the magic protecting Ulfgar, breaking his spell of flying, among other things. The dwarf started floating down slowly toward the ground. In normal circumstances, I could’ve cast a similar spell on him, but by then, I had used most of the powerful spells in my arsenal. Ulfgar, however, drank another potion of flying, and started making his way back up. At the same time, Sparkie teleported himself and Lagaan close to Khala as well.
Now, the thief was adding the steel of his own weapons to those of the two warriors. I reached out through the currents of magic and healed some of Ulfgar’s wounds. Sparkillo shot another volley of Magic Missiles, only to see them get resisted again.
Khala taunted us and flew even higher. The warriors tried to keep close to him, although as they approached, Ulfgar got slapped by the demon’s tail. Once they closed in on Khala, they wounded him gravely again. He was now badly bleeding, and if things kept going like this, he would soon be dead!
I drank a potion of flying as well, to join my companions in this epic battle against the terrible demon in the sky above Farshore.
Khala knew that his best chance for survival was to disrupt the flying magic of our warriors, and to break the Dimensional Anchor. He destroyed some magic around him, banishing my elemental, and breaking poor Ulfgar’s fly spell – yet again. Lagaan was also hit by the disrupting wave, and some of his protections vanished, causing him to fall prey to Khala’s gaze.
Thankfully, though, Raguhl’s enchantments held true.
“It’s over, Khala!” he roared. “Now you die!!!”
He plunged his massive greatsword into the belly of the demon. Foul blood flowed down from the terrible wound as both sets of eyes widened in Khala’s heads. But then the demon grinned – he wasn’t dead yet! He directed his tentacles and tail toward Raguhl, in one last desperate and deadly assault…
For a fleeting moment, I feared we were going to fail. Khala would kill Raguhl, or he would disrupt his flying magic, and escape. It was up to me to end this!
I spoke the darkest prayer of all and channeled all of Umberlee’s hatred into the aspect of Demogorgon. I felt my Destruction spell try to force its way past the fiend’s strong magic resistance. It almost didn’t make it, but then I felt a second surge of energy, as if Umberlee herself pushed forth with her own divine will.
Khala’s magical protections crumbled.
His twin maws opened wide to scream out in agony, but they emitted only silence.
For an instant, his silhouette turned into a void of utter blackness.
And then he was gone!
Dead!
Destroyed!
Forever!
And it was about f~+$ing time!
My companions and I looked around frantically, out of paranoia, just to make sure that he hadn’t teleported out at the last moment. But no, he was truly dead. After a few moments, Lagaan and the villagers who had been close enough to be under the effect of Khala’s fear and confusion gazes regained their senses. Some time later, as word spread out through the village that the demon was dead, people stopped panicking and focused their energies on trying to help the wounded and putting out the fires. However, the fear would never truly leave their hearts anymore. Those who survived would always remember the nightmare of this terrible day.
Some time not long after Khala’s death, the rescue efforts were interrupted by more shrill screams. To our dismay, we saw six foul winged figures flying toward Farshore from the north. We recognized those evil bird-men, for we had fought them before. They were vrocks.
Of course, in our state, a fight against six of those demons wouldn’t have been easy. More villagers would surely have died. But thankfully, the cowardly demons turned around and fled away when they noticed that Khala was nowhere to be seen. Only the battle-crazed Ulfgar was sad to see them go.
Once we were sure they were gone, we discussed their behavior. Sparkillo suggested that perhaps Khala had gone to fetch them after teleporting out of his temple, and had given them instructions to attack Farshore. Since the demons had never been so far south, they had not been able to teleport into the village. Now, though, they had seen it. They could come back at any time…
“Then we must strike before they do,” said Raguhl grimly. “We must return to the Central Plateau and exterminate the corruption of the demons!”
Sparkillo and I shared a weary gaze. We’d had enough of fighting demons, and neither of us felt like fighting more of them anytime soon. But Ulfgar grinned at Raguhl, his unquenchable thirst for blood not yet sated by the death of Khala. He would definitely be going to the Central Plateau with his reptilian comrade.
Death toll
There was much to do in the aftermath of the battle. The dead and wounded littered the streets, and several buildings were on fire. Villagers swarmed around us, showering us with cheers, pleas for help or healing, and so many questions. Lavinia and Liamae came to join us as well. Lavinia seemed unharmed, but Liamae was very pale under the thick film of black demonic spit. She could barely stand up: her life energy had almost completely been drained by the foul substance.
There was so much to do. We separated, each going to help the populace as best we could. Lagaan tented to Liamae; the two warriors went to help the villagers carry the wounded to the temple, and to free survivors of burning or collapsed buildings. Sparkillo helped extinguish some fires. I was approached by one of Manthalay’s bodyguards, who told me that my fiancé had been gravely wounded by Khala, and that he had been carried back to the mansion.
We hurried there, although I briefly stopped now and then to heal a badly wounded survivor. Finally, we reached the mansion, where a handful of guards and servants were gathered around their master’s bed. At first, my heart constricted with fear at the quantity of blood on my beloved’s clothes, but as I knelt at his side and examined him more closely, I realized that he was still well within my ability to heal. His eyes were unfocused, but he immediately realized I was at his side once more, and he smiled, knowing I would save him.
Indeed, after a few prayers to Umberlee, Manthalay’s wounds closed, and his face lost its deathly pallor. His eyes regained their usual sharpness.
“My beautiful Belessa,” he said, raising his hand toward me. “You have saved me! But tell me, is Farshore safe?”
I took his hand in mine and kissed it gently. “Yes, my love! We have slain Khala! The damage was severe, but Farshore will survive… As will you!”
A few minutes later, Manthalay and I left the manor. He was now strong enough to walk. He had been among the first to oppose Khala, and had been dealt grievous wounds by the demon. Thankfully, though, mighty Umberlee had been watching over him, and she had spared his life. We parted ways then: he wanted to ensure that things got back in order in the chaos-stricken town, while I went to the temple to deal with the wounded. On my way there, I saw that the damnable demon had damaged part of the stone bridge that Sparkillo had built to give us access to the temple we had built in the cliff side. But I knew we could rebuild it with magic, eventually.
The damage in human lives had been much more severe, alas. By the time we had recovered all the bodies and saved those who could be saved, we counted ninety-seven casualties. The most well-known among them were Professor Aldwattle, the local alchemist; Ulvar Kabbania, the captain of the guard; and Bereleth, one of my acolytes. Among the other ninety-four people were some people I knew, common folk of little consequence in the grand schemes of things, but people I had grown attached to nonetheless. I had performed wedding ceremonies for some of them, healed their illnesses and their wounds, counseled them, helped deliver their babies. They had all been part of this community of Farshore that I had cherished since I had set foot in it. By killing them, Khala had killed a little part of me as well.
Of course, among those, the one I mourned the most was Bereleth. The elf had been unpleasant at times, but he had still been a talented and insightful servant. Cato was still alive, so at least I still had him, but he was a simple-minded brute. It had always been Bereleth’s intellect I had trusted for many of the more delicate temple matters. Yes, he would be difficult to replace.
I had suffered another loss, which could not be counted among the death toll for he had already been dead long before today: Penkus. I had been extremely fond of the majestic undead beast since the very first day that I had raised his bones from the freshly-slain carcass of the tyrannosaurus rex that had attacked us when we had first landed on the Island of Dread. There had been a bond between me and the soul animating these gigantic bones that I had never felt with a living creature. At times, when we were alone, I would whisper to him softly. He never answered, but I always had the impression that in the great black holes of his eyes, there was understanding and compassion. He had been a wonderful companion.
Of course, no-one could understand such a relationship, nor the profound sadness that I felt now that it had been brought to an end. But only one person in the entire world had the audacity to go so far as to laugh at my misfortune.
That person, of course, was Lagaan.
The cruel little thief chuckled merrily as he looked at the destroyed remains of my undead companion. If only he knew how close he came to dying that day… The only thing that saved his pathetic, miserable existence was the fact that I had spent all of my powerful spells in saving the village. Otherwise, I would’ve finally obliterated that buffoon on the spot, erasing his nasty-smelling body from existence forever, and condemning his soul to an eternity of pain, chained in the deepest part of Umberlee’s watery domain!
The members of Trouble will all die one day; that is for certain. Given our lifestyle, our deaths will almost surely be quite unpleasant. I truly hope that Lagaan’s death will be a slow and extremely painful one. I wish I could reach into the future and capture the scene of his demise into a crystal ball, so that I could watch it in times like these, and savor it for all its worth.
It is the grand irony of it all that I, possibly his greatest enemy in the entire world, am also his greatest benefactor, having saved his life countless times. But of course, the ingrate never once, ONCE, acknowledged this fact!
The only concern that prevents me from letting him die time and again is money. It would simply not be economically desirable for Trouble’s finances to resurrect him every time he got in danger.
But fear not, little thief. One day, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day, my healing magic will not come to your rescue. It will be when you least expect it. And that day, my sad, worthless little friend, that day you will die.
Marpenoth 7th, 1376: The funeral
Early the following morning, Ulfgar and Liamae came to see me at Manthalay’s manor, eager to be cured of the energy drain they had suffered from Khala’s spit. I used my potent magic to heal them, consuming a lot of diamond dust in the process. Liamae was able to pay for her cure; clearly, the religious services she had offered the natives of the seven villages had been well-rewarded. Unless of course she had been paid for other services entirely…
Farshore was still reeling from the previous day’s raid. Smoke hung thick in the air, and the sky was especially dark to the south of town, where Khala had been slain. It was quite ominous, and it seemed as if the very sky was shunning that place.
The village’s mood was at an all-time low. Farshore had been attacked three times in a year, and although it had been victorious all three times, there had been heavy casualties. What’s more, yesterday’s raid had been the worst of all on people’s morale. On the first raid, they had been only fighting human pirates. The second raid had included some horrible challenges such as vrocks, flesh golems and fireball-shooting yuan-ti’s, but at least, some of the opponents had been humans, so the population had felt that they could do something to protect Farshore.
Khala had been a single opponent, but the citizens hadn’t been able to do anything. He was impervious to all of their weapons, to Liamae’s spells, and had even turned the villagers against each other with his maddening gaze. Definitely, the third raid had been the most terrifying of the three.
The only silver lining to the black cloud was that we, the members of Trouble, were worshipped as heroes more than ever before. Everyone in town was telling the epic tale of the five heroes locked in mortal combat against the airborne demon, and of his final destruction in a burst of utter blackness. We hadn’t just been the ones who had killed Khala. We had been the only ones who had even been able to scratch him…
The dead had been gathered and prepared for their final rites. A first ritual was held in the cemetery for many of the deceased; they were buried in the graveyard, under the thick dark cloud that hung over that part of town. Most of the villagers were present, as it seemed everyone knew at least one person who had died.
The only person of note who was absent was Avner. Unfortunately, that wasn’t because he was dead. No, the coward had once again miraculously survived the fight by hiding safely in his home. He just couldn’t be bothered to show some respect for those who had given their lives to try and protect the village.
Then, a second ceremony took place for the remaining bodies, those who had been worshippers of Umberlee in life. It took place on the beach. I led the ceremony, with the help of Cato and our other surviving acolytes. The bodies were each placed in a small boat that had been blessed in the name of our goddess. I spoke with special fervor when I reached the vessel that held the remains of Bereleth, who had bravely died, trying to defend Farshore.
“Over the waves, you found your way.
Borne by the winds, you came to stay.
Through storm raging, your will was true.
Never straying, fury drove you.”
Cato and Brissa stood at my side, and chanted: “Sail away, brother, sail away on the endless sea.”
“Bringer of clouds, guide and savior.
Maker of rain, their protector.
Child of lightning, you fought and fell.
Son of thunder, you served Her well.”
“Sail away, brother, sail away on the endless sea.”
One final storm - will tear and rend.
One final wave - this is the end.
Mother’s embrace - can keep you whole.
Queen of the Deeps, please take his soul.
“Sail away, brother, sail away on the endless sea.”
Then we set the boats to sea and watched them float away. Each one was decorated with a torch that glowed with a sacred blue fire which would ensure that the souls of the faithful found their way into Umberlee’s domain. I had tears in my eyes as I watched the boat of my loyal Bereleth, and those of all the other devout servants of our goddess, as they began their final journey.
That evening, Manthalay and I dined at Lavinia’s manor. Raguhl was also present. The meal was quiet and somber, as our hearts were still heavy with grief. But I also saw it as a new beginning. The hardships that Farshore had gone through had served to strengthen the bonds of the survivors. The petty bickering of the past seemed long gone. Lavinia seemed to have finally accepted that Manthalay was to be the true ruler of Farshore. She had conducted herself well during the raid, ensuring the safety of many villagers.
The bond between Raguhl and me also felt much stronger than it had in the past. Even though we’d had our differences, we both greatly respected each other. He was one of the two strongest warriors I’d ever seen, and he had witnessed many times my astounding power over life and death. We both knew that we would never have survived thus far without each other.
Yes, I hoped that soon, once the remaining minions of Khala had been wiped out from the Central Plateau, Farshore would at long last be truly safe. I hoped this was the beginning of something beautiful. That night, when I hugged Lavinia before we parted company, there was nothing hypocritical in my gesture: I was truly happy that she was alive.
Marpenoth 8th, 1376: Obedience
The following day, most of the survivors of Khala’s rampage tried to put the recent horrors behind them and focused on rebuilding what had been destroyed. But of course, as is always the case after a raid, there were a number of whiners who complained about the way things had been run, and who said that Farshore was much too dangerous for what it was worth. They loudly claimed that they would leave on the first ship back to Sasserine.
Of course, the loss of so much manpower would cripple the town and would have grave repercussions on its prosperity. With a little magical help on my part, Manthalay addressed the malcontents and was able to restore their confidence, convincing them that Farshore was now finally safe, and they could carve a great future for themselves by seizing the unique opportunity that the town’s growth represented.
Only one rebellious individual remained loudly opposed to Manthalay’s ideas. This imbecile was named Korell, and he wore a thick bandage over his nose. I could not help but chuckle at the sight. Even though the poor fool didn’t remember it, as he had been under the influence of Khala’s madness at the time, I was the one who had caused him this injury by smashing my heavy shield against his face, after he’d disrupted my first spell of the battle!
Something had to be done about this undesirable loudmouth. After discussing various options with Brissa and Manthalay, we agreed on a simple but efficient plan. During the night, Brissa and I snuck into Korell’s house and quietly subdued him. I then cast a Quest spell on him to ensure that he would remain quiet and obedient toward Manthalay for a while.
Marpenoth 9th, 1376: Lagaan’s curiosity
Today, we set what remained of Penkus’s bones as decorations in the temple. This way, we will never forget my magnificent creation. Just as I had wished that Moretta, that stupid weakling, had used him to defend Farshore the first time the Crimson Pirates had raided the town, when he would’ve been able to single-handedly turn the tide of battle, I now wished that my acolytes had NOT needlessly caused his destruction by sending him against Khala. Yet I knew they had only used him as a last resort, since they had thought us dead at the time. I could not blame them for this action.
I avoided Lagaan for the past two days, for his own safety more than anything else, as I was still in a murderous mood. But I had known that soon enough, I would have to face him again, since we had all decided to return to Khala’s temple the next day.
So when the rogue came to ask me for a favor, I didn’t turn him away and reluctantly accepted to help him. For once, what he asked of me was actually pleasant: it meant I got to tease Zebula Meravanchi.
I cast my Sending spell and repeated word for word my comrade’s message: “Hey Zebula, Lagaan here, missing your Nymph? Got a new one I can look at? Avner says hi, he’s here, just ungagged him.”
I received the outraged nobleman’s reply, and repeated it exactly to Lagaan, only adding one extra few word at the end. “He said: ‘your death will be a slow one… pussy!’”.
Later that day, I used my magic again to get news from Tyria. She replied that Scuttlecove was not a nice place at all, and too chaotic even for her own tastes. However, she wanted to stay a while longer, as she was studying at a bard college called the Skindancer Academy, under the tutelage of a halfling woman named Peryoil Whistlecut.
Marpenoth 10th, 1376: Return to the temple of demonic evil
Once we’d had time to recover from the ordeal of battling Khala, we returned to the temple on Taboo Island. Our skin crawled at being back in the desecrated temple, but we found the place mostly empty, except for the corpses of the many creatures we’d slain. The only foe that we ran into was as demon that we believe was the one who took Father Innersol’s appearance back at the demon hunter camp. Now that the creature was alone, we killed it easily.
We searched the place for many hours, but found no hidden treasure stash we had missed on our first visit. The only thing of value seemed to be Khala’s great laboratory. It was very complex, and contained many instruments and concoctions that would greatly help Sparkillo and me in the enhancement of our already considerable magical arsenal. Sparkillo used his magic to shrink the bulkier items, and we carefully placed all we needed within my portable hole. Soon, Khala’s laboratory would find a new home in the basement of the House of Trouble.
Lagaan suggested I also bring back some fresh skulls among those we had found in Khala’s lair. He wondered if any of them had once belonged to father Innersol. They clearly weren’t those of his soldiers, since those that had been on patrol with him had all been lizardmen.
On our way back from the temple, Sparkillo brought us to Raguhl’s village, since the barbarian wanted to stay there for a while, before leaving in search of an old lizardman recluse living in the jungle.
I brought back three of the freshest skulls to Farshore and questioned them through necromancy. None of them were the old priest himself. They had all recently been Olman tribesmen who had possessed magical powers. They had been sacrificed by Khala in his abode. Apparently, the demon had murdered them as part of some ritual that had served to fuel the Shadow Pearls with energy. Alas, I learned nothing truly useful. Nevertheless, once I was done speaking with them, I placed the three skulls on a shelf in our new lab, in case we should ever need to question them again at a later time.
Marpenoth 11th, 1376: Doom and gloom
Five days after Khala’s death, the dark cloud hovering over the southern section of Farshore was still as thick and sinister as ever. I was getting worried, because nothing we did seemed to be able to dispel it. Even my powerful mastery of the weather did not succeed in removing this offending gloom.
Once I ran out of ideas, I prayed for some divine guidance at our sacred altar. After some time, Umberlee answered me:
“Great were your deeds in killing the dread island’s dread master,
Greater still was the master’s master’s anger.
Ill omens and morbid tidings gloom over the city of survivors,
Deadly power will soon rise to exact vengeance.”
All right…
So in order to avoid the destruction of Farshore, we had destroyed Khala, and by doing that, we had angered his master, who would… seek vengeance by destroying Farshore?
Well, that sure had been worth it.
The darkened area reached quite far around the spot where Khala had died, covering all of Lavinia’s estate, and even a small portion of Manthalay’s. I felt certain that something terrible was going to happen under this menacing cloud, but the question was: what, and when? Would this madness never end? It seemed that every time we overcome a challenge, a greater one still arose to block our path. Would we have to kill Demogorgon himself to be left in peace??
I also scried on Moretta for the first time in a while. She and her foolish accomplices were now on what appeared to be a pirate ship. They didn’t seem to be prisoners, possibly because of Moretta’s status as a priestess of Umberlee. It seemed I had missed a lot since the last time, as Moretta had given birth recently. I even had a chance to look at her baby. It was absolutely adorable. It would truly be a shame if that poor, defenseless infant were to become an orphan in this cruel world that we live in.
Standing over the sacred basin, I grinned as I slit the watery reflection of Tolin’s throat with one long nail. I had not given up on my promise to crush that despicable man for the trouble he’d given me. I just had to find the opportune time for my revenge.
Marpenoth 13th, 1376: Unrest in Sasserine
Today, Sparkillo teleported Lagaan, Manthalay and me back to Sasserine. My fiancé had some pressing business to take care of in the city, but it would not be easy given the current situation: Sasserine was in the throes of a political war. Several factions were vying for dominance of the city, clashing not only in the open on the political scene, but also through blackmail and assassinations. The strongest faction seemed to be an alliance between House Meravanchi, the church of Umberlee, the church of Helm. It also had links with the city guard and the thieves’ guild.
That was a rather strange state of affairs. The churches of Umberlee and Helm had never been on friendly terms before. There was clearly something fishy going on there.
An uninformed individual might have assumed that the current situation would be extremely beneficial to Manthalay, a prominent member of House Meravanchi, and to me, a high-ranking priestess of Umberlee. Things could not have been further from the truth. Manthalay’s brother Zebula maintained control of the local family holdings with an iron grip, and, from what we had heard, was terrified by Manthalay’s recent success at managing Farshore. He feared (rightly, I admit) that Manthalay would soon come back and try to remove him from power, to take control of the family for himself. Things were so tense within the Meravanchi family that Manthalay did not even dare approach his family’s estate, for fear of being assassinated by his estranged brother. As his fiancée, I knew I could expect the same treatment.
On my side, I was in a similar predicament, as I had been shunned from the church of Umberlee since that foul hag Edvanda Balak had taken over the role of High Priestess. I felt certain that my showing up at the local temple would only result in an attack including drawn weapons, dark magic, and an unwelcome bath in the holy shark-infested pool.
In the previous days, since Manthalay had told me that we would soon return to Sasserine, I had gathered information via magic from the only two people within the church that I felt I could really trust: Kallia Nylos, the young priestess who had replaced me at the Dawn Council, and brother Kallam, the nephew of the late High Priestess, who had always looked kindly upon me.
Both had warned me that Edvanda was running a tight ship, and that I would be well-advised not to show myself at the temple. Edvanda was paranoid, spending much time cloistered in her inner sanctum, to be protected from the scrutiny of scrying, while herself resorting to frequent use of divination magic to ensure loyalty among her subjects. Clearly, her grasp on the clergy was tenuous if she had to be so drastic in her rule.
Similarly, based on things I had overheard and deducted over time, I believed that Lagaan was not welcome among his former friends, meaning the thieves’ guild. I did not know much about that secretive organization, except for my near-certainty that Lord Dracktus was in control of it. I also knew that the terrible Ogre Mage, who had traveled on the Sea Wyvern with us for a time under the guise of the druid Scorin, had been hired to kill Lagaan. And Edvanda had somehow been linked to whoever had hired him. At least it made me feel good that someone else out there shared my desire to see the impertinent boy suffer.
Sparkillo’s family had been threatened so much that they had recently left the city altogether. The usually cheerful elf became enraged when he heard this, and we had to calm him down and convince him not to teleport into our enemies’ homes on the spot to blast them to smithereens.
Of course, the current overall situation did not please me, Manthalay, or my companions of Trouble. We were powerful. We had slain bloodthirsty pirates, titanic monsters and foul demons. We could’ve turned our wrath toward Zebula and Edvanda, and their allies, and most assuredly ground them to dust. Yet we were hesitant to take such a direct approach. We had our eyes on Sasserine: once the safety of Farshore was ensured, some of us planned on coming back to Sasserine and taking an active part in ruling the city. But we could not do this if our names became sullied in infamy, if the common man came to know of us only as bloodthirsty murderers.
No, we wanted to stay subtle, for now, keeping the usage of sharp axe, poisoned knife and soul-rending magic as “plan B”.
For these reasons, Sparkie brought us to Lord Lorchester’s estate. In these times of need, the gray-haired nobleman remained Manthalay’s strongest and most loyal ally. He welcomed us in his manor, and offered us his hospitality. More than ever, the place looked like a fortress. There were guards everywhere, many of which were mercenaries from Zelkarune’s Horns, the order that Ulfgar was also part of. The rugged men had heard the tales of our earlier adventures, and were delighted to see us again, even though Ulfgar himself wasn’t present.
Lord Lorchester and his guards repeated the advice: it wasn’t safe for us to walk outside. Apparently, a bounty had been put on all our heads in Sasserine’s criminal underground; surely, assassins and bounty hunters would attack us if our presence became known in the city. While I was sure that as a group, we could repel nearly any attack, if we got separated and let our guard down in the city, we might get attacked at the least convenient moment, perhaps without our armor or weapons handy, and one of us might be slain or taken captive. Even though it felt insane for us to be hiding from inferior opponents, it just wasn’t worth the risk to go outside.
The only one who could leave the safety of Lord Lorchester’s manor was Lagaan, who used a combination of disguise and invisibility thanks to his useful magical items. He left soon after we arrived, and I did not see him from most the day, which was perfectly fine with me.
Still, this situation was infuriating. After risking our lives so many times to save Farshore, we should have been received in Sasserine like heroes, instead of having to hide like this! But if we played our cards right, those who opposed us would soon be destroyed or imprisoned. Soon, Umberlee willing, I would be married to one of the wealthiest and most influential nobles of the city, and I would be the High Priestess of the church of Umberlee in Sasserine.
Soon…
Marpenoth 15th, 1376: The bounty
Manthalay and I spent two more days enjoying Lord Lorchester’s hospitality. Several of Manthalay’s contacts came to visit him in secret. I took part in some of those meetings, where he gathered information, strengthened alliances, bribed officials and made promises. I know that he appreciates my presence in those situations. I am a good judge of character, and he often seeks my opinion on the trustworthiness of his contacts.
However, my patience for those behind-the-scenes politics is limited, so I also spent long hours in meditative prayer. I also took some wonderful baths in the splendid and enormous bathtub of the suite Lord Lorchester had placed us in. After the horrible battles we’d been through on Taboo Island, and the heart-wrenching aftermath of Khala’s raid, I badly needed this time to rest.
This evening, Lagaan joined us for dinner and reported some of what he’d observed since we had arrived. He hadn’t been able to enter the Meravanchi estate, as it was well-guarded by mages who were quite likely to be able to see through his magical disguise and invisibility. The bounty was at fifteen thousand gold pieces for each member of Trouble. Seventy-five thousand gold pieces for the five of us… quite an attractive sum! Apparently, a group of powerful bounty hunters had taken the contract and sailed from Sasserine a few weeks ago. We could expect them in Farshore in less than two months. We will have to prepare for this attack when we come back…
After the meal, I noticed that Lagaan and Sparkie spent some time together in the wizard’s room. By questioning Sparkie, I later learned that they had scried on Tavey, who was being held captive in a cell of the thieves’ guild. What kind of trouble had Lagaan gotten his poor little sidekick into?
Marpenoth 16th, 1376: Back to Farshore
Manthalay had concluded his most pressing business in Sasserine, for now, so we said our good-byes to Lord Lorchester and returned to Farshore thanks to Sparkillo’s magic. Not much had changed in our absence, including, much to our dismay, the black cloud that hung over part of the village.
Marpenoth 20th, 1376: The lab
Over the past few days, Sparkillo and I have spent a considerable amount of time in the basement of the House of Trouble. One of the things we did while we were in Sasserine was to sell much of the treasure we gathered from the taboo temple. With the considerable funds we got in exchange, we will be able to further enhance the properties of our weapons, armor, and other magical items. Trouble will become more powerful than ever!
Unfortunately, such business is not only extremely expensive, but also very time-consuming. The alchemical equipment we salvaged from Khala’s laboratory should help us to greatly speed up the process, but still, in order to perform all of the enchantments that the warriors and Lagaan had asked of us, plus what we want to do on our own items, it will take Sparkillo at least six weeks to complete everything, and about half that time for me. But the effort should be well worth it…
As I began my work, I couldn’t help but wonder at the marvelous equipment that Khala had been working with. I believe he created most of it, and if so, he must indeed have been a peerless alchemist. As repulsive as I find the Shadow Pearls for their corrupted nature, I must admit that the process of their creation must have taken the brain of a genius. Or the two brains, in this case.
Another task that I had on my list was dealing with Korell, the stubborn man who had loudly opposed Manthalay after the raid. The spell I had placed on him had served its purpose, and he had been very quiet lately, but I knew that its effects would soon fade. Now that people had mostly forgotten about his rebellion, he could finally be dealt with in a more permanent manner.
Once again, Brissa and I gave him a visit in the dark of the night. The unfortunate fool recoiled in horror when he saw us in his bedroom. Brissa and I exchanged dark smiles: not the kind of reception two beautiful women like us would’ve expected from a lonely man.
“Hello, Korell,” said Brissa merrily. “Your nose seems to be healing really well!”
“Too bad it’s about to be obliterated,” I added.
The man gazed at us in terror for a moment, and then I spoke the words of the Destruction spell. He was fortunate enough to have been granted a quick death.
Marpenoth 21st, 1376: Blackmail
As it turned out, only one person had found the disappearance of Korell to be suspicious. One of his friends came to the manor the following day and demanded to see Lord Meravanchi at once. He was led into my fiancé’s office and explained his suspicions of foul play. Of course, I was listening the entire time from the door that led to our bedroom.
“I know what’s really going on here!” said the outraged man. “I’ve heard the rumors about the demonic powers the priestess Belessa uses. You asked her to silence Korell because he was opposing you! Well, unless you want this sinister secret to come out in the open, you’ll tell her she’d better pay me five hundred gold pieces, or by Lathander I’ll bring this to the next town council, and Lady Vanderboren will finally replace you as our mayor!”
Manthalay considered this for a moment before replying.
“So let me get this straight. You think that my fiancée, one of the most powerful people on the island, is spending her nights running around town murdering her opponents with dark magic, and your plan is to blackmail her? Good luck with that…”
The man quickly left the manor. We didn’t hear from him ever again.
Marpenoth 25th, 1376: Rebuilding
As days go by, the reconstruction of the burned down buildings is progressing at a brisk pace. The people of Farshore seem to have gotten pretty good at repairing damaged structures by now.
Ulfgar has made several more attempts at obtaining Umberlee’s forgiveness, offering more and more elaborate carvings of the goddess. Yet so far, nothing he’s produced has met her strict expectations. I can see he’s growing truly annoyed with this charade. Good. He deserves every moment of this misery for the sacrilege he so maliciously committed.
Sparkillo and I are still quite busy in the lab, enhancing the warriors’ magical items.
Marpenoth 29th, 1376: Thinking of Dolmord
Things have calmed down somewhat in Farshore. Although the survivors of Khala’s raid have mostly recovered from the psychological trauma they endured, the menace of the dark cloud hovering over the south gate, and that of the bounty hunters on their way from Sasserine are keeping everyone on edge.
In addition to my work in the laboratory, I’ve been spending some time scrying on people and communicating by magic, keeping myself informed. Just as my allies within the church said, Edvanda seems to be quite paranoid, as I’ve not been able to scry on her even a single time. She must be spending a lot of time in her chambers.
During the past few days, I’ve spoken several times with Dolmord… My old lover, whom I’ve still not forgotten. The poor man is still being kept captive, as he has been for years now. What a horrible torment… From what I’ve gathered, he’s being held in Scuttlecove for some oracle who claims that someone important is linked to his past and his future. Am I that person? Surely…
Then it must be my destiny to go to Scuttlecove and rescue him… I wish I could convince the rest of Trouble to go there now, but most of them are focused on waging war on the remaining demons of the Central Plateau for now. That is also an important task, I agree… But I worry about poor Dolmord’s fate.
After several discussions, we have agreed that while Sparkillo and I will remain in Farshore and continue working in the lab, Raguhl, Lagaan and Ulfgar will return to the plateau, with the help of the remaining demon hunters from Father Innersol’s band. Liamae will also go with them, as will Krogzar, the dwarven cleric of Tempus. He was quite angry to learn of Khala’s raid, which he missed, as he had been traveling around the island at the time. He will finally get the chance to prove his worth in battle against the demons of the Central Plateau.
We also agreed that, after they return from this mission (assuming of course that they don’t perish), we will at last travel to Scuttlecove, a place I’ve been curious to visit for a long time. It must be quite dangerous, though, which is why I haven’t decided to go by myself… Of course, I’ve had to pretend that my only concern for going there was to retrieve the missing Shadow Pearls. I can’t afford to have them know about Dolmord’s presence there, or even about his identity. I’m sure that sneaky rat Lagaan would use this against me, and betray me to Manthalay.
Uktar 1st, 1376: Demon Hunting
Today, Sparkillo used much of his magic to bring Lagaan, Ulfgar, Liamae and Krogzar to the Central Plateau, and also brought Raguhl, the demon hunters, Jakara and Father Catherly over there. They will begin their hunt for the demons and Skinwalkers.
During the few weeks he’s been absent, it seems that Raguhl found the hermit he had been seeking. It is an old lizardman with druidic powers, who will return to his tribe and serve as his spiritual advisor. He also has the power to increase the power of Raguhl and Ulfgar’s protective amulets, a thing only a druid can do.
Sparkillo and I were able to finish most of Raguhl and Ulfgar’s items before they left. We will now begin working on our own, as well as Lagaan’s. Things are still moving at a good pace thanks to Khala’s equipment.
The dark cloud is ever present, still. It’s quite creepy. Even Sparkillo can’t truly determine its nature, its purpose, or exactly what danger it represents. We’ve tried several more times to get rid of it, but still with no success.
Uktar 15th, 1376: Girl stuff
Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten closer to Lavinia. She’s invited us at her manor, where we have tea and talk about this and that, including mundane gossip, planning for Farshore’s economic growth, legends of the Isle of Dread, tales of our adventures and talking about the people we’ve lost, like her parents, Vanthus, and Stalman (whose identity I’ve simplified to “my first mentor among the church of Umberlee”).
There’s a great amount of respect between me and Lavinia, as we’ve come to appreciate each other despite our differences. She’s handled herself very well during the raid, and with her good education, her intelligence and her good manners, she’s much better company than most people I know, by far, including the uncouth thugs I am forced to call my adventuring companions.
Brissa and Chochanika are frequently with us as well, as was Liamae before she left for the Central Plateau. Chochanika is now very pregnant; we can expect to see the tiny half-elf among us within a few weeks. She is now much more fluent in our language, capable of having a decent conversation with us.
With the death of Ulvar Kabbania, Brissa has been given a position of command among the city guard. She is technically their captain, since she is perhaps the best combatant in Farshore when Trouble isn’t there. But unfortunately, she’s not enjoying that position at all. It’s unfortunate, because I think she can do a very good job at it.
My most recent scrying has shown me that Moretta is now on land at last, in an unidentified dark temple. I’m not sure exactly where she is.
I’ve also been keeping in touch with Ulfgar through magic. Things are going well for them so far, they’ve managed to slay many enemies. Between the three of them, Liamae, Catherly and Krogzar seem to be able to keep our warriors and Lagaan alive almost as well as I could by myself.
Uktar 28th, 1376: The Dream
Last night, I dreamed of Harliss Javell. I am sure it was magical in nature, because she spoke to me very clearly. In my dream, we were back in the caves of Kraken’s Cove, where we had fought savage creatures so long ago. As we entered the deepest cave, we came upon the swashbuckler facing several mutants. One moment later, she was simply standing amidst their corpses. This was not exactly the way things had happened, I noticed some details I knew had not been there the first time…
She seemed to address the entire group, but as I found out in the morning, speaking about the dream to Sparkie, and with Ulfgar by magic, I was the only one who had it. In the dream, she spoke these words:
“I’m glad to see you, Trouble. You’ve considerably grown in power since I’ve last seen you, so much so that I’ve even heard rumors of impressive bounties on your heads. I could use help from people like you. We have a common enemy, and I seek to kill that enemy. I want to bring the Crimson Pirates down, and I know you do as well. I’ve been trying to do so for the past year or so. I have valuable information I could share in person. I’ll be waiting for you in Scuttlecove at a place called Red Foam Whaling.”
I tried to get more information from her while I was still in the dream, but she remained evasive and claimed that it wasn’t safe for her to reveal anything in this magical communication. Huh?
As soon as I woke up, I wrote down the name of the place, but the entire thing sounded a bit fishy. If we really ended up going to Scuttlecove as I hoped, I knew we would definitely look for her, but I would remain wary. I feared she was leading us into an ambush. She might simply be interested in the seventy-five thousand gold piece bounty for all five of us, or she might be working for the Crimson Pirates and want some revenge, or assurance that we wouldn’t come after the remaining Shadow Pearls.
Why had she contacted us, why now? It seemed a bit too convenient.
In the morning, I tried to contact Tyria to ask her to investigate, but the little bard didn’t answer. That was scary. Could her disappearance and Harliss’s sudden interest in us be related?
Uktar 31st, 1376 (Feast of the Moon)
Three days later, and still no news from Tyria. I am really starting to worry about her. Scuttlecove is a dangerous place, and something could easily have happened to the foolhardy little bard.
Today, the great ceremony of the Feast of the Moon was held. Every year, people from various faiths gather to celebrate their ancestors and to honor the dead. Since I never knew my father, and my mother was a low-life scum, I never gave much thought to whoever my ancestors might be. Usually, on this date, I choose to celebrate the dead, and since I lead the ceremony today, this is the direction I chose.
With the horrors of the recent raids, everyone present had lost people they cared about. This occasion brought us all together even more, joined in misery as we were. It also gave us another chance to put some closure on the sad events of the past.
Although the faces of those who had died in the recent raid were still fresh in my mind, and I genuinely mourned them, my thoughts turned toward two souls who had left my life some years ago: Stalman, and my son. Stalman had given me everything I had. If it hadn’t been for him, I would never have reached my true potential as a hierophant of Umberlee. And my poor son had suffered the cruelest death of all: being slain at his very birth, without experiencing life at all.
Nightal 2nd, 1376: The hunters return
Raguhl, Lagaan and Ulfgar came back to Farshore today. They were victorious in their endeavor, but it came with a price. Krogzar, the cleric of Tempus, and several demon hunters died on the Central Plateau. But their deaths were heroic ones, as they fought many great battles against demons of all kinds: Hezrous, Vrocks, a Glabrezu, Bebiliths and Bar-Lguras. Of course, they also faced many Skinwalkers, as well as some savage dinosaurs, gigantic creatures twisted and rendered insane with rage by the corrupting influence of the Shadow Pearls. My companions also learned that a titanic crocodile lurked in the depths of the lake: indeed, I remembered that we had seen its shadow when flying over it some time ago. We all believed that it was one of the seven fabled monsters of the Isle of Dread. It was a good thing we hadn’t taken the flimsy little boats to get across!
Ulfgar tried to convince the rest us to go kill it, but nobody else was interested. It didn’t represent a threat to the rest of the island, and it would be a risky fight, as we couldn’t easily defeat it by flying as we had done in the case of the giant tyrannosaurus rex, as the creature could dive underwater. No, I argued that we had much more pressing matters in Scuttlecove, describing to the others Harliss’s dream in more detail, reminding them that Tyria was missing, and that we should try to get our hands on the many remaining Shadow Pearls.
Raguhl was ready to move on to other adventures, and seemed to share my worries about Tyria. He felt that he had finally fulfilled the oath he had sworn to the couatl in the abandoned shrine. He had avenged the deaths of the Rakastas by butchering all those Skinwalkers.
Nightal 4th, 1376: Lagaan’s second chance
Yesterday, Umberlee finally forgave Ulfgar and lifted the curse. When she informed me of this, she also gave me a message of interest to another member of our group:
"Let it be known to my steadfast devotee that the Queen of the Depths is pleased. We bless you, Belessa, and the iconic buffoons that accompany you. We are happy with the anger you all brought to our two-headed rival. In our fit of joy, We are willing to accept the dwarf's pitiful attempt at pleasing us. Similarly, we laugh at the jester's inability to make sense of our Divine guidance in relation with his lost father's search. The mage's display of unrestrained destruction upon the one who could have helped the alley-rat made Us grin for We always look at unbridled devastation with delight.
For this reason, We shall make an exception and offer directions a second and last time. May the fool hear the words well for it is truly exceptional for the Great Sea Lady to give an unfaithful a second chance. Let it be reckoned as well that this new path to answers shall prove a difficult one.
‘In the City of Chaos, seek the hungriest of the hungry for he once captured the bastard’s father and placed him in the hands of the great blasphemers. He alone knows the safest way into the palace where clues are to be found.’ "
I told Lagaan about this. Now, he shares my sense of urgency to go to Scuttlecove. Between the two of us, we should be able to convince the entire group to begin a new glorious adventure soon: traveling to Scuttlecove and finding the Shadow Pearls, the hungry being that Lagaan needs, and my beloved Dolmord. We will meet with Harliss Javell and either save or avenge our old comrade Tyria. Plus, I will be able to get my revenge on Tolin and to bring Moretta back to reason. The fates are truly conspiring for us to go there.
Ulfgar spent the entire evening and the entire night drinking beer at the Last Coconut. I believe some locals are worried that we may soon run out of alcohol on the island.
I wish I could be so carefree, but the worry about Dolmord, Moretta and the growing gloom over the south part of the city are starting to weigh more and more heavily on my mind…
Nightal 8th, 1376: Demogorgon’s ire
Thanks to our Olman allies, we got an advance warning today about a warship sailing along the coast of the island. The timing seemed right: it looked like the bounty hunters had finally reached the island and had come looking for their prize. Well, we wouldn’t keep them waiting.
All five members of Trouble were back at Farshore at the time, so it was a simple matter to put together a crew and sail out on the Sea Wyvern to meet them. We had finished working on our magic items just a few days ago, so we felt more powerful than ever. Soon enough, we found their ship. A battle ensued of which I could tell much, but this conflict was overshadowed by much more dire events that happened soon thereafter, so I will only say this: we crushed them.
After the battle, while we were looting their ship and finishing off their wounded, Lagaan suddenly became tense. After a few moments, an expression of dismay overcame his face, and he turned toward us, yelling: “Liamae and Lavinia are in trouble! There’s something bad going on in Farshore! We have to get back!”
It seemed that Demogorgon’s vengeance had finally manifested itself…
Multiple updates! Rock and roll!
Thanks, B! You sure know how to write an exciting journal!
I second that. Just finished to read all of it, and enjoyed it a lot. May your fingers fly over the keyboard and never miss a key (whatever that weird blessing means).
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Here’s an updated version of the characters at level 15.
Belessa Darkwave (NE Female Human Cleric Level 14/ Hierophant Level 1) – Worships Umberlee
Str: 16 Dex: 8 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 25 Cha: 18
AC: 29 HP: 109 Fortitude: +18 Reflex: +9 Will: +26
Initiative:-1 Speed: 20’
Melee attacks: +1 trident +13/+8 (1d8+4)
Cleric Domains: Ocean (water breathing 10 rounds/level/day), Storm (electricity resistance 5).
Height: 5’11”. Weight: 150 lbs, Age: 30, Date of birth: Eleasias 5, 1346
Long black hair, brown eyes, stunningly beautiful, wears a glamered armor that most often looks like either a deep blue plate armor adorned with shark motifs, or an elegant black gown. Wields a trident (glowing with a blue flame) and a large shield.
Feats: Combat Casting, Negotiator, Iron Will, Silent Spell, Spell Penetration, Craft Wondrous Items, Scribe Scroll.
Skills: Bluff 11, Concentration 17, Diplomacy 29, Heal 9, Knowledge: History 4, Knowledge: Planes 4, Knowledge: Religion 15, Profession: Sailor 17, Sense Motive 19, Spellcraft 10, Spot 15, Swim -5.
Languages: Common, Chondathan, Orc, Abyssal, Olman.
Main gear: Trident of Fish Command, Glamered Full Plate +4, Periapt of Wisdom +6, Large Shield +4, Boots of Levitation, Rod of Lesser Silent Casting, Luckstone, Ring of Protection +2, Belt of Giant Strength +2, Onyx and Sapphire symbol of Umberlee worth 1000gp, Cloak of Resistance +5, Portable Hole, Ring of Telekinesis, Necklace of Prayer Beads (Karma, Healing), Rod of Splendor.
= = = =
Raguhl (CG Male Lizardfolk Barbarian Level 13/ Totemic Demon Hunter Level 1) – Worships Gwynharwyf
Str: 27 Dex: 18 Con: 16 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 8
AC: 34 HP: 184 Fortitude: +18 Reflex: +15 Will: +11
Initiative: +3 Speed: 40’
Melee attacks: +3 holy greatsword +25/+20/+15 (2d6+15/17-20)
Ranged attacks: +1 mighty longbow +18/+13/+8 (1d8+6/x3)
Height: 6’10”. Weight: 420 lbs, Age: 26, Date of birth: Ches 29, 1350
Has gray and green scales, amber eyes and sharp spikes protruding from his back, wears a chain shirt and an iron crown; wields a shimmering greatsword.
Feats: Track, Improved Grapple, Power Attack, Dodge, Improved Critical: Greatsword.
Skills: Climb 14, Hide 4, Intimidate 12, Jump 11, Knowledge: Nature 4, Knowledge: Planes 1, Perform: Drums 2, Profession: Sailor 4, Spot 17, Survival 15, Swim 16, Tumble 15.
Languages: Common, Draconic.
Main gear: Holy Greatsword +3, Chain Shirt +5, Ring of Fire Resistance (10), Cloak of Resistance +5, Ring of Protection +4, Gargoyle Crown, Composite Longbow +1 (mighty +5 str), Gloves of Dexterity +4, Belt of Giant Strength +6, Decanter of Endless Water, Amulet of Natural Armor +4.
= = = =
Sparkillo “Don’t call me Sparky” Rashi (NN Male Elf Universalist Wizard, Level 15) – Worships himself
Str: 8 Dex: 18 Con: 20 Int: 27 Wis: 10 Cha: 8
AC: 21 HP: 115 Fortitude: +15 Reflex: +14 Will: +14
Initiative: +8 Speed: 30’
Height: 5’10”. Weight: 145 lbs, Age: 103, Date of birth: Flamerule 8th, 1273.
Blond hair, blue eyes.
Feats: Scribe Scroll, Silent Spell, Still Spell, Knack For Magic, Brew Potion, Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Spell Penetration, Quicken Spell, Improved Initiative, Forge Ring, Craft Wondrous Items.
Skills: Appraise 9, Concentration 23, Decipher Script 10, Knowledge: Arcana 23, Knowledge: Architecture 9, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 23, Knowledge: History 9, Knowledge: Nobility 9, Knowledge: Planar 23, Knowledge: Religion 11, Profession: Sailor 3, Search 16, Sense Motive 3, Spellcraft 30, Spot 15, Swim 3, Tumble 5.
Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic, Chultan, Dwarven, Abyssal, Celestial, Olman.
Main gear: Pearl of Power (L2), Pearl of Power (L4), Bracers of Armor +4, Ring of Protection +2, Headband of Intellect +6, Manta Ray Cloak (not worn by default), Dusty Rose Ioun Stone (+1 AC), Tlacaelel (Cursed Axe of Thanatos), Rapier +1, Amulet of Health +6, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Necklace of Adaptation (not worn by default), Cloak of Resistance +5, Ring of Wizardry (Level 2), Staff of Frost.
= = = =
Lagaan (NN Male Human Rogue Level 14/ Swashbuckler Level 1) – Worships Tymora
Str: 16 Dex: 23 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 16 Cha: 10
AC: 27 HP: 94 Fortitude: +11 Reflex: +19 Will: +13
Initiative: +5 Speed: 30’
Melee attacks:
+1 keen edge rapier +18/+13 (1d6+4/15-20)
and
sunblade +19/+14 (1d10+5/19-20)
Ranged attacks: Nimbus Bow +20/+15/+10 (1d8+5/x3)
Height: 5’9”, Weight: 175 lbs, Age: 19 (chronologically) / 27 (physically), Date of birth: Alturiak 25, 1357
Black hair, brown eyes.
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus: Shortbow, Two-Weapon Fighting, Opportunist, Iron Will, Improved Evasion.
Skills: Appraise 10, Balance 13, Bluff 10, Climb 7, Craft: Bow Making 3, Craft: Beer Brewing 5, Decipher Script 3, Diplomacy 14, Disable Device 13, Escape Artist 22, Forgery 4, Gather Information 13, Heal 4, Hide 22, Jump 6, Knowledge: Arcana 3, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 3, Knowledge: Local 4, Knowledge: Nature 3, Knowledge: Planes 3, Knowledge: Religion 3, Open Lock 22, Profession: Sailor 4, Search 12, Sense Motive 12, Sleight of Hand 16, Spellcraft 3, Spot 19, Survival 4, Swim 6, Tumble 18, Use Magic Device 18, Use Rope 13.
Languages: Common, Olman, Chultan.
Main gear: Rapier +1 (Keen), Sunblade, Mithral Chain Shirt +5, Nimbus Bow (Longbow +2, Evil Outsider Bane, Shocking Burst, Mighty Composite +3), Hat of Disguise, Vest of Escape, Slippers of Spider Climbing, Ring of Protection +2, Ring of Invisibility, Cloak of Resistance +4, Gloves of Dexterity +4, Periapt of Wisdom +4, Belt of Giant Strength +4.
= = = =
Ulfgar Dorunn (CN Male Gold Dwarf Fighter Level 13/ Barbarian Level 1/ Dwarven Defender 1) – Atheist
Str: 22 Dex: 12 Con: 22 Int: 14 Wis: 14 Cha: 8
AC: 40 HP: 216 Fortitude: +22 Reflex: +10 Will: +16
Initiative: +5 Speed: 20’
Melee attacks: +1 frost evil outsider bane dwarven waraxe +26/+21/+16 (1d10+11/19-20/x3 plus 1d6 cold)
Ranged attacks: +1 mighty longbow +17/+12/+7 (1d8+6/x3)
Height: 4’2”, Weight: 140 lbs, Age: 56, Date of birth: unknown
Black hair, black beard, brown eyes.
Feats: Bullheaded, Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Dwarven Waraxe, Weapon Specialization: Dwarven Waraxe, Cleave, Great Cleave, Combat Expertise, Greater Weapon Focus: Dwarven Waraxe, Improved Critical: Dwarven Waraxe, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Counter Attack, Toughness, Endurance.
Skills: Appraise 3, Balance 0, Climb 7, Craft: Stonemason +3, Heal 4, Hide 0, Intimidate 10, Jump 4, Knowledge: Arcana 3, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 6, Knowledge: Engineering 3, Knowledge: Local 4, Knowledge: Nature 4, Knowledge: Religion 3, Profession: Sailor 4, Ride 2, Search 9, Spot 17, Survival 4, Swim 10.
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Giant, Gnome, Abyssal, Olman.
Main gear: Full Plate Armor +5, Darkwood Shield +5, Dwarven Waraxe +3 (Frost, Evil Outsider Bane), Belt of Giant Strength +6, Amulet of Natural Armor +4, Composite Longbow +1 (+5 str), Gloves of Dexterity +2, Ring of Feather Fall (not worn by default), Ring of Protection +4, Cloak of Resistance +5, Bracers of Health +2, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Boots of Haste, Helmet of Wisdom +2.
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SERPENTS OF SCUTTLECOVE
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Nightal 8th, 1376 (continued)
The demon reborn
I quickly gave the crew instructions to navigate the Sea Wyvern back to Farshore, and then Sparkillo teleported us close to Lavinia’s mansion. Once again, we appeared in the middle of complete pandemonium. Villagers were running left and right like headless chicken, screaming at the top of their lungs. Once again, Farshore was under attack. Once again, the attackers were super-powerful entities against which nobody in the village except us had any chance. Maybe Korell had been right after all. Maybe it really wasn’t worth the trouble to remain in this gods-forsaken little town. Shame I had already killed him.
A massive ape-like demon with an eyepatch and a belt holding a saber came out of the building. It was carrying under its thick, hair arm the shape of a beautiful raven-haired woman who was struggling mightily to escape its grasp, even stabbing the creature with her knife. But it barely seemed to notice. The creature grinned at us and vanished in a puff of smoke. The Bar-Lgura had just teleported away with Brissa…
It felt like we were in a nightmare. We were powerless to stop any of it. A black stallion with a mane of flames then flew above the mansion, carrying upon its back the two helpless figures of Lavinia and Liamae. Their captor also rode the sinister steed, and we recognized him even though his face had rotten away considerably over the past year he had spent in his tomb right here in our own graveyard. It was Vanthus.
The villain still sported a fiendish-looking armor and wielded a flaming sword in one gauntleted hand. In the other, he held Manthalay’s severed head. In a voice literally from beyond the grave, our old enemy taunted us:
“We shall meet again, and you will pay in full for what you did to me!”
With an evil laugh, he then contemptuously threw Manthalay’s head at our feet and disappeared before we could do anything to stop him.
I don’t clearly remember much of the hours that followed. I was in a state of shock as my mind reeled from the enormity of what had just happened. Manthalay: dead. Vanthus: alive again. And more powerful than before, it seemed. Farshore: still a target for super-powerful demons that could teleport in and out of it as they pleased. Brissa, Lavinia and Liamae: added to the list of captives in need of rescuing in the Scuttlecove region.
I felt numb.
Hopeless.
Like part of my soul had been shattered.
Somehow, I got to the temple of Umberlee; the next thing I remember, I was there, and apparently, I’d brought Manthalay’s head with me. Raguhl must’ve gone inside the mansion to fetch his body, for he gently lowered it on the altar. I placed the head where it belonged. Cato and a few acolytes watched the proceedings, their eyes wide with fright.
After hastily doing the necessary preparations, I immediately began one of the holiest of rituals.
Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
For that same ceremony had once been performed by priests of Tempus on my decapitated corpse…
I reached out to my goddess and begged her to return to me the man I loved. The man who had so unjustly been ripped away from my life, like so many had already been during those thirty years.
After what seemed like an eternity, Manthalay’s eyes fluttered open. He was weak, very weak, but he was alive. Umberlee had performed the requested miracle: she had returned him from the dead. I hugged my beloved fiancé as he lay on the sacred altar; I cried shamelessly. We had all been dealt a terrible blow on this fateful day.
Back from the dead
Night had fallen. The crickets sang their nightly song, uncaring about our plight.
I sat by Manthalay’s bedside. He was asleep again. I felt tired, drained of magic, drained of emotions. This had been a truly terrible experience, and I knew my companions and I would be called upon once again to set things right. Not that it had served us much in the past.
Perhaps I am a bitter, petty woman who does not deserve the divine powers that her goddess has bestowed upon her. After all, who was I to blame my mistress on this day of all days, when she had answered my prayers and returned Manthalay to life? But still, I could not help but notice the gross discrepancy in the way the great powers treat their servants.
When I was slain by those foul “adventurers”, Denek Drellrane and his companions, Umberlee punished me for years by stripping me of my powers, and later by asking for the sacrifice of my newborn son. A terrible price to pay to regain but a fraction of my powers.
And yet, this despicable cur Vanthus had been defeated as well, but had been revived by his own master for no apparent reason (other than the defeat of another minion). Not only that, he had seemingly been granted powers far beyond any he had wielded when we had slain him a year ago. He had been given the chance to get immediate revenge upon those who had bested him.
Yes, I thought as I fumed quietly in the shadows, at times I felt like was worshipping the wrong evil entity. Those thoughts felt wrong, for they were heresy. And yet they felt strangely right.
What were we to do? What the hell were we to do? We had saved Farshore three times from annihilation already. We had slain Vanthus, we had slain Khala. And it seemed that every time we performed a heroic deed, we somehow brought even greater peril on the hapless community. Was this some grand cosmic joke? Was there some lesson to be learned from all this? Were we so thick-headed that we couldn’t get it??
Would these calamities ever stop, or would they follow each other endlessly until Farshore was reduced to a charred pile of rubble?
I looked back on the past years of my life, and realized with bitterness that every being I had gotten close to – every single one – had been taken from me. Some had been slain or had died: Stalman, my son, the High Priestess, Penkus, and today Manthalay. Others had been captured: Dolmord, Brissa… And another had been manipulated into betraying me… My poor, weak, foolish Moretta.
It seemed that despite our constant struggles, our heroic battles, it was never good enough. Those we loved would never stay safe. Those we hated would never stay dead. An endless tide of evil would constantly threaten to swallow Farshore.
What could I do about it? Was I supposed to leave it all behind and live as a hermit in a cave, staying away from everyone for fear of seeing them come to harm? Was my love such a curse that it brought death and misery to everyone it touched?
I was brought out of my dark reverie by the arrival of two of my companions. Raguhl and Lagaan quietly entered Manthalay’s bedroom. For once, I welcomed their presence. I was glad to see that at least they were all right. It is true that I have often felt at odds with my companions, and spoken ill of them. But it seems that throughout this maelstrom of ill luck, they are the only ones I can truly count on. The only ones who have a chance to survive the wrath of the immense powers aligned against us. Our fives destinies are united into one…
If there’s one good thing to be said about demonic raids on Farshore, it’s that they bring people closer together. Raguhl and Lagaan had come to check on Manthalay. They looked worried about him. I found that strangely surprising. I had thought they both hated him. Perhaps I had underestimated them, perhaps I had been too quick to hear meanness in their words where there had been none.
The men were, of course, quite worried about Lavinia and Liamae as well. At that point, we had no way of telling if they would survive long enough for us to even attempt to rescue them. But we guessed that Vanthus had taken them back to Scuttlecove. I feared that Brissa had also been taken to that dreadful place. Raguhl and Lagaan told me that nobody else had been hurt or kidnapped: Vanthus’s strike had been quite precise. He had known exactly who he was after.
They had talked to some villagers, and had learned more details about the attack. Someone had noticed that Vanthus’s grave had been disturbed earlier in the day, and had also seen a strange, dark figure leaving the area. Then, there had been sightings of the flaming horse. Lavinia and Manthalay had met at the mansion with Liamae and Brissa to decide what to do. What terrible bad luck that this had happened on the day that we were out at sea. Otherwise, we could’ve prevented this tragedy. Perhaps we should’ve waited for the bounty hunters in Farshore. If we had only known…
Just before the attack, Liamae had performed a Divination and learned that the shape on the nightmare was none other than one of Demogorgon’s death knights. Sparkillo knew those fiends, and had explained to the others that they were like warrior-liches, whose phylacteries were their weapons. Lagaan pointed out that Vanthus had somehow gotten a new weapon, since we had looted those he had wielded in life.
The blot of darkness, which had finally disappeared from the sky over Farshore, had apparently been absorbed by Vanthus’s corpse. So that’s what it had been about all along. It infused its remains and gave them the power to become a death knight.
Liamae had been in the process of casting a Sending spell to Lagaan when Vanthus had attacked the mansion with some Bar-Lguras, which explained why the message had been so abruptly interrupted. Manthalay had tried to defend the women, and had been killed for his chivalry.
The others asked me to join them at the House of Trouble, as we had much to discuss. We needed to leave on the morrow. I wished we could’ve simply teleported to free our friends, but alas, this was not an option. We had no way of teleporting into the pirate base, for we didn’t know where it was. The others informed me that Sparkillo had tried to scry on the three women, but that his attempts had been blocked by magic. I was reluctant to leave Manthalay’s side, as he was still so weak, but I knew I would be needed. We did not have much time to plan this long and very dangerous trip, after all.
Pirate no more
The mood at the House of Trouble was quite glum that night. Chochanika and Ulfgar’s whore were also present. I hoped the two men realized how lucky they were that their loved ones hadn’t been harmed by Vanthus. Perhaps Vanthus didn’t have room for pregnant Olman women or dwarven ones in his harem?
We had only begun discussing the logistics of the upcoming trip when a faint knock was heard on the door. Ulfgar answered, and we were surprised to see a small, insignificant-looking man enter. He looked like a laborer from the village. Lagaan seemed to know him a bit through Liamae.
The man introduced himself as Grass and said he had some valuable information for us. He looked somewhat uncomfortable, and told us that he had been living in Scuttlecove until recently. He had reason to believe we would soon be heading there. This little man seemed quite well informed…
Although I was suspicious at first, he proved quite useful. He produced a weathered but very detailed map of Scuttlecove, and described its most important features. He knew much about the city, including some things we had already heard. It had been built by three powerful ur-priests, heretics who stole divine energy from the gods. The trio vanished about five years ago, under mysterious circumstances. Perhaps the gods finally decided to get rid of them.
The Crimson Pirate base was not in Scuttlecove itself, but rather, at an unknown location on the same archipelago, called the Pirate Isles. Scuttlecove was on one of those isles, named Sekorvia. Grass believed that the Crimson Pirate lair was hidden by powerful magic.
Several factions had been struggling for dominance of the pirate city since the disappearance of the ur-priests. Among them were the Monks of the Dire Hunger: deviant cannibals who served as both city guards and undertakers. We wondered if it was one of them that Lagaan was meant to question about his father. There was also the Dealers’ Consortium, drug dealers led by Kedward Bone, a powerful demonologist. And then there were various pirate gangs.
I asked him about the city’s temples, but his knowledge was slim in this area. He knew of a temple of Talos and a few others to Demon Lords. He had also heard rumors of a hidden temple of Illmater.
Among the places of interest were the abandoned palace of the ur-priests (from which none had ever returned), an inn called the Violated Ogre (where patrons could torture an immortal prisoner), and Porphyry House, the town’s largest brothel, where Succubi tended to the patrons’ needs. It was owned by some Yuan-Tis who worshipped Demogorgon. Alas, Grass hadn’t heard of Red Foam Whaling, where we were supposed to meet Harliss.
I thanked Grass for the useful information and gave him a pouch of gold. He told us that he had never worked for the Crimson Pirates, but that he had spent several miserable years in the eastern, and poorest, part of Scuttlecove. He had only recently escaped that hellhole and wanted to make a new life for himself in Farshore. He asked us not to tell his wife about his previous life.
That despicable nephew
Upon my return at the Meravanchi estate, I found Avner lurking suspiciously at Manthalay’s bedside. He jumped in surprise when I entered the room, and I immediately got the impression he had been about to commit something terrible.
I waved my hand in his direction, and he was rammed against the wall by the force of my ring of telekinesis.
“B… Belessa… Wh-what are you doing?” he whimpered. He struggled uselessly against the invisible pressure of my ring.
I approached him, my eyes narrowed in cold fury.
“I suppose you’re going to tell me you were coming to tend to your uncle’s needs, right?”
“Y-Yes, I was,” he lied.
“I couldn’t help but notice that once again, you came out of the attack unscathed,” I said. “What is it you were doing during the raid, exactly?”
“I was… err… rallying the troops!” he claimed defiantly.
“Really? Is that why there’s flour on your shoulders? Or could it be that you were cowering in your basement between two crates – as usual?”
“I will not… I didn’t… Would you just let me go??” he said in an outraged tone.
I released the magical force, and he regained a more natural stance, massaging his wrists.
“For goodness’ sake,” he muttered as I went to check up on Manthalay. He was still asleep, and it seemed that Avner hadn’t had time to harm him. “My poor old uncle,” continued Avner. “He has been through so much for Farshore. I fear it’s really taking the life out of him.” He was watching Manthalay with what he certainly believed was a look of concern, but I could see right through his flimsy deception. “Was it really necessary, Belessa? Was it really worth it to spend a huge sum on diamonds to wrench his soul back to this cruel life of hardships? It seems only natural to let my beloved uncle, who has lived a long, full life, finally rest in peace. It’s time for someone else to take over the burden he has carried for so long.”
I glared at the fool. “Let me guess, Avner. Someone like you?”
He feigned surprise without any subtlety. “Why, yes, I suppose. Someone like me. I am, after all, the only other member of the noble house of Meravanchi on this island. I would be willing to take on this thankless duty. Think about it, Belessa. I am young and strong. I am loved by the villagers. And I am much closer to you in age than he is, I could take care of you in ways my old uncle -”
“Shut up, Avner,” I said, interrupting him. “And get out.”
“But surely you…”
“I said: get out!”
“Very well,” he said, clearly wounded in his pride. He cast one last glance toward Manthalay, and left the room.
I followed him into the hallway to make sure he really left the premises. I wondered if he could feel the steel of my gaze pressing against his back as he walked out; for in that moment, I made a decision that was about to change Avner’s life forever. I came to the conclusion that I could not leave him here in Farshore without supervision. I feared he would make another attempt on Manthalay’s life. I couldn’t be sure of it, of course, but I had strong suspicions.
The easy solution would have been, of course, to kill Avner, which I had come close to doing on so many occasions already.
But I decided to do something else; something much more humane… and infinitely more enjoyable.
I went to the House of Trouble, where I found Ulfgar and Lagaan playing cards and drinking beer in the living room. I quickly described my plan to them. They both grinned from ear to ear and followed me to Avner’s place to lend a hand. He was, of course, easily dealt with, and under the cover of the night, we brought his unconscious shape (wrapped in a carpet) aboard the Sea Wyvern.
Avner was going to come along on our trip to Scuttlecove…
Nightal 9th, 1376
The following morning, Manthalay was doing a bit better, but he was still too weak to stand. I knew he would be bed-ridden for a few more days, and it broke my heart that I couldn’t stick around to take care of him. I told him of our mission, and he understood the urgency. He also smiled grimly when I revealed to him what I had in store for Avner. Although they were related by blood, he shared my aversion for the despicable fop, and since the beginning of the feud between Manthalay and Zebula, things had understandably gone even further downhill with Avner, Zebula’s son.
“His fate is in your hands,” said my lover. “I care not whether Avner returns or not.”
“I’m sure whatever will happen to him will be… interesting,” I said with a grin, before bending down to give Manthalay one last good-bye kiss.
We had picked a small but efficient crew to help us run the Sea Wyvern. They were all grim and strong men, unafraid of the horrors of Scuttlecove. Among them were Stragdar, the dwarven ballista operator who’d stuck with us since we had first sailed from Sasserine, so long ago. Also present were two members of the Black Shield company. Knowing that these men were risking their lives to come with us, we all paid them a hefty sum.
A small crowd gathered at the docks as we made the final preparations for the voyage. So many things weighed on my mind: we were about to set sail for the heart of the Crimson Pirate enclave. We were about to risk our lives yet again. So much was at stake. Our loved ones had been captured by those accursed pirates: Lavinia, Brissa and Liamae; Dolmord and maybe Tyria, too. Vanthus had returned, and we would have to deal with his menace in addition to finding and securing the many remaining Shadow Pearls. Also, Harliss claimed to need our help, even though we weren’t sure we could trust her.
And yet the common folk looked toward us, the members of Trouble, as a source of inspiration and courage. We were leaving them…
I sighed, realizing that we couldn’t leave without at least giving them a few words to remember us by during our long absence. I climbed on top of a large crate and addressed the villagers, improvising a short speech to bolster their morale. It wasn’t much, as my own thoughts were quite dark, but I hope it had the desired effect.
It was still early morning when we set sail. I was at the helm, and at least, I was looking forward to a few weeks navigating aboard my beloved Sea Wyvern. We had decided to take that ship even though it had once belonged to the Crimson Pirates. After some discussion, we came to the conclusion that it was highly unlikely that they would remember it had once been theirs, especially if we flew a generic pirate flag on our mast.
“You were great back there,” said Lagaan. “That speech, and with your long hair and cloak flying in the wind. Very inspirational.”
“Thank you,” I said warily.
“And your black armor… and that velvet choker you’re always wearing. Hey! You could buy a matching one for Manthalay, to cover his own scar.”
I immediately turned toward him, full of rage… But something in his eyes stopped me. He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Belessa,” he said. “That’s how I deal with the grief of the world. With humor. For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about Manthalay.”
“Thank you.” I said with a nod. “You must be very worried about Liamae.”
“I am.”
“We’ll find her… Vanthus will pay for what he’s done.”
“For once, I agree with you,” replied the rogue.
Nightal 12th, 1376
Three smooth days of sailing followed. We were making good progress. With favorable winds, and my knowledge of the Pearl Current, I anticipated we would reach Scuttlecove in less than twenty days.
I had regularly been trying to contact our captive friends by magic, and eventually, I was able to reach Brissa and Lavinia. They had probably been unconscious or drugged before. It seemed they and Liamae were being held in separate cells, but close to one another. Evil creatures lurked outside the jail, and they were being kept in constant darkness and noise. So intense was the cacophony that they could get no rest – Liamae had been unable to regain her magical energy.
Poor Brissa… She was captive of that man she hated so much, that man who had used and abused her in the past, almost causing her death through the terrible mutations of the Shadow Pearl. Will she survive this new peril? Will I succeed in freeing her?
Of Tyria, I still have no word. I fear the worst for our little friend.
On a more amusing note, Raguhl appeared on deck this morning, looking rather perplexed. Behind him came a flustered Avner, who looked terrible, as though some mean people had kept him locked inside a crate for a few days. His chin was covered with stubble, and his pants showed signs of having been soiled quite thoroughly.
Ulfgar, Lagaan and I shared a look of amused cruelty.
“You… You!!!” roared Avner, pointing a shaking finger in our direction. “You… BRIGANDS!!!”
“Hi Avner,” said Lagaan cheerfully, “I hadn’t realized you were coming with us on this trip.”
“What’s all this, then?” asked the black-bearded Stragdar, holding both hands over his broad leather belt.
“I hear some strange noises downstairs,” said Raguhl, “and I found Avner in a box…”
“Yes!” exclaimed Avner. “I was assaulted in the confines of my own mansion, by these … these… THUGS! And when I woke up, I found myself prisoner of this accursed craft yet again!”
“Is this true?” asked Raguhl, raising an eyebrow. Clearly, he did not approve of our little joke.
“Well, we’ve been feeding him,” replied Ulfgar. “And we figured he’d be safer inside a box in the hold. You know. In case of an attack or something.”
“We all know how much Avner likes hiding inside boxes, after all,” I added with a wink.
“I DEMAND you turn this vessel around AT ONCE and journey back to Farshore henceforth!” said the nobleman.
“We can’t do that, Avner,” said Raguhl, who was calmly trying to placate the outraged fop. He turned back toward us. “But we can’t bring him with us to Scuttlecove, either.”
“What are you talking about?” said Lagaan. “It sounds like a lot of fun over there. Hey Avner, they have brothels over there! You like brothels, don’t you?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with any–“ began Avner.
“It’s dangerous in Scuttlecove,” said Raguhl, interrupting him.
“That’s kind of the point,” replied Ulfgar, with a mean grin.
Avner’s hands were shaking. A few chuckles came from the rest of the crew. Clearly, everyone except Raguhl was immensely enjoying the idiot noble’s misadventure.
“You! Rolag!” said Avner, butchering the lizardman’s name. “I’m going to need a good body guard. I need you to protect me… Err… P… P-please.”
It seemed like a tremendous effort for Avner to say that last word. He didn’t seem to have a lot of practice in using it.
It only took the rest of the day for Raguhl to consider feeding Avner to the sharks. The fool followed the lizardman everywhere and kept pestering him. Even the normally kindly barbarian seemed at the end of his patience by the end of the day. A few more days of this treatment and he wouldn’t care about us letting Avner loose in Scuttlecove at all.
I had explained to Sparkillo my fears about potential attempts on Manthalay’s life. He understood, and refused every offer Avner made him of paying for a teleport spell back to Farshore.
Nightal 19th, 1376
Seven more days sailing toward Scuttlecove. Things are going well, we are making good progress. Umberlee has heeded my prayers and is sending good winds our way.
Today is Manthalay’s birthday. I wish I could be with him. I’ve stayed in contact with him by magic. His body has mostly recovered from the ordeal of being resurrected. I know what it feels like, and I was considerably younger than him when I had to go through this. Yes, I am so much in love with him that I sometimes forget how much older than me he is. I guess Avner was right on this, although he is a fool if he thinks it makes any difference to me. Manthalay is a hundred times the man that Avner could even dream of becoming!
Speaking of which, over the past few days, Lagaan and Ulfgar have taken advantage of Avner’s newfound freedom by “training” him on the deck. I say “training” in the loosest possible term, as it seems to amount to merely beating the hell out of him. They claim they want to make a real man out of him.
Avner’s misfortunes have a great effect on the morale of the crew, who loathe him just as much as we do. Even Raguhl now finds Avner so insufferable that his early protests regarding his harsh treatment have dwindled to nothing over the past few days. So powerful is Avner’s aura of antipathy that even Raguhl can’t stomach defending him.
For these reasons, the nobleman is now perpetually covered in bruises. I am pleased to offer my healing magic to help in his training, otherwise the sessions would be short indeed, as Ulfgar’s fists are very hard. But still, I choose not to cure him totally, to make the entire experience more… worthwhile.
Every night as we go to sleep, we are treated to the lovely sounds of Avner sobbing down in the hold. His treatment is cruel, I admit it, but we all need a release for our rage regarding what Vanthus has done to us. Avner is a great vessel for such a release.
Yesterday, Lagaan told Sparkillo and me about a magical dream he received from the nymph he freed from Zebula Meravanchi’s dungeon some time ago. Judging from his silly grin, I understood that the dream had been much more than simply informative, but also highly erotic in nature. Nevertheless, she had informed Lagaan that the owner of Porphyry House, the half-nymph Tyralandi, was her half-sister. The darker side of her marked her as a thrall of Graz’zt, the most seductive of demon lords. Lagaan’s friend claimed that Tyralandi was very dangerous.
Sparkillo informed us that Graz’zt has a notorious enmity for Demogorgon. So perhaps we could find, in fact, that we have something in common with this Tyralandi.
Nightal 27th, 1376
Welcome to Scuttlecove
Eighteen days after we left Farshore, we arrived in view of Scuttlecove around mid-day. Far beyond the city, we could see the outlines of several volcanoes, but their presence made itself felt all the way to the city, which was shrouded in a hazy atmosphere of volcanic ashes. The city mostly consisted of tenements, badly maintained warehouses, and docks, but above the lower buildings loomed a large keep and a tall tower to the east. A bridge led to a smaller part of town, on the other side of a river, which Grass had described as the slums of Scuttlecove. Frankly, I found that the entire town looked like slums.
Even from a distance, we could see that many pirate ships were docked in the harbor. The Sea Wyvern and its black flag would fit right in, if I could only bring it there. As we had been warned, the bay was littered with shipwrecks, which made navigation quite difficult. Nevertheless, I had been through far worse in the past, and we soon reached the docks without a problem.
The smell of rotten fish and garbage was even worse than I’d expected. I had rarely docked at a fouler-smelling port during my travels. An ugly harbormaster with an old pipe and a lazy eye came to greet us, with a few thugs in tow. He took note of our ship’s name, as well as that of its captain. I introduced myself as Captain Falcona – in fact, we had all picked fake names, since Trouble was likely known to some of Scuttlecove’s villains, not only Crimson Pirates, but various kind of sea-scum who might like to collect the bounties on our heads in Sasserine.
In an effort to blend in, Lagaan and I used magic to change our clothes and armor to look like the outfits of regular pirates. My blouse showed just enough cleavage to help in my negotiations, but not so much that people would stare. Sparkillo had for once abandoned his gaudy jewelry and brightly colored robes, and was wearing something sober and dark. One could still tell that he was a spellcaster from his crystal-tipped staff which radiated an aura of frost, but that would likely keep most people at bay. As always, Raguhl looked like a menacing, monstrous brute with a huge sword. In fact, he actually seemed to fit in better here than in Farshore or Sasserine.
Of us all, Ulfgar was the one who looked the most out-of-place with his beautiful, shiny plate armor, but I was confident that anyone who came to him looking for trouble would be dealt with swiftly and violently. It would certainly be entertaining to watch.
The harbormaster charged us a hundred gold pieces as docking fees. Such a price would be outrageous anywhere else; but perhaps the captains who docked here all had such valuable stolen cargo that they didn’t care. After a bit of haggling, I was able to bring it down to seventy-five.
Once that business was finished, we decided to look for Red Foam Whaling, but we needed directions. In a normal city, we might’ve asked for some passers-by, but that didn’t seem like a desirable option here. Everyone seemed quite unpleasant, dirty and violent. Nobody seemed to be talking here, only cursing and yelling. It usually seems like this in most ports, but in here, it was taken to an entirely new level.
We decided to look for an inn, and Ulfgar insisted on going to the Violated Ogre. Even though we saw other ones closer to the Sea Wyvern, we headed east toward that destination. Stragdar and the rest of the crew stayed to keep an eye on the Sea Wyvern, although I had no illusions that they’d be able to defend it against determined and powerful intruders.
We walked among the crowd of low-lives, keeping a close eye on our purses. The city seemed like a haven of crime, and reminded me a lot of Suderham, the secret city where the Slave Lords had once ruled. We were glad to have gotten the map from Grass, as we knew exactly where we were heading.
Most of people around us looked like thieves, pirates, beggars or other lawless but rather mundane people. Some, however, looked more menacing. A patrol of hooded monks walked by, and we guessed they were from the order of Dire Hunger. They looked thin and there was definitely something strange about them. They entered an alley, and we heard screams coming from there soon after.
We also crossed the path of a tall man in a long black robe, who wielded a staff tipped with a skull that emitted red flames. He urged the crowd to come to the temple of Mammon and receive his dark blessing. At one point, he turned his attention to an unfortunate man, who got beaten up when he refused to convert to the devilish religion. He had only lain unconscious for a few moments before some people already started looting his body.
Raguhl looked as though he was going to go defend him for a moment, but we were able to keep him in line. I pray that the lizardman’s pointless desire to help every miserable wretch in the world will not be too much of a hindrance in this place.
Of course, there were many thugs in the crowd who were looking for easy prey to bully and steal from. We all looked pretty tough, though, so nobody bothered us for a while. Raguhl was definitely the most fearsome among us, and one idiot actually wet himself when he bumped into the barbarian, who growled at him like a raging dinosaur.
Of course, in a place like this, Lagaan couldn’t resist the temptation of stealing a few pouches.
“Hey!” said a deep voice behind us, prompting us all to turn in that direction. It was a mean-looking, broad-shouldered man, with his four equally unfriendly-looking comrades. “Hey you!” said the ruffian, pointing a meaty finger at Lagaan. “You took my gold chain!”
“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, sir,” said Lagaan innocently. “I would never do such a thing. Perhaps you could search this lady here, however,” he said, pointing at me, “she’s known to be somewhat of a kleptomaniac.”
“Don’t play smart with me,” growled the thug. “Give me my gold, boy… Before things get ugly.”
Lagaan smiled that infuriating little grin of his and mimed that his right hand was cranking a mechanism that raised the middle finger of his left hand. The thug immediately understood this universal gesture as a signal that combat was to begin.
The crowd immediately moved out of the way and watched with interest as our groups clashed. Unfortunately for them, the combat was in fact quite short, as those five louts were no match for the mighty members of Trouble. The leader and one of his associates were soon reduced to bleeding masses of flesh on the ground. The three others drank potions of invisibility and fled like the yellow-bellied curs that they were.
Things quickly got back to normal; everyone went about their business as if nothing had happened. We quickly looted the bodies of our adversaries, finding vials of potions and poisons, and well-made weapons also. We continued down the street, passing by many merchant stalls that seemed confident that no thieves would steal from them. They were surely watched over by members of organized crime whom they paid for protection. We passed a ghoulish-looking man who was gathering severed limbs he found in an alley and placing them in a large stained bag. We also saw, in the distance, a large demonic shape flying near Kedward Bone’s tower.
The Violated Ogre
We finally reached our destination: the inn of the Violated Ogre, whose walls were painted blood red. It was packed with ruffians of a greater caliber than most of the miscreants we’d passed on the street: clearly, the patrons of this establishment were what could be called the cream of the scum. The main attraction of the place was clearly the miserable blue ogre that was chained to a wall. The creature looked absolutely insane and it was obvious that it had been here for an eternity, getting tormented by throngs of people over the years. A skinny, wicked-looking being, which might have been a wight, was riding the ogre, tearing at its ears with sharp claws.
A group of inebriated pirates left a table by the window just as we arrived, so we took that good spot. Unfortunately, the broken window couldn’t be closed, so we had to endure the effluvium of garbage odors that came from the alley beyond. Only Sparkie was able to avoid the discomfort by putting on his necklace of adaptation.
A tired-looking, almost-naked young woman came to bring us some of the local spicy beer. A few of her peers made their way through the crowd of smelly, brutish men to bring them refreshments and food, getting groped and abused as they did so. I was reminded of my own dreadful teenage years when I saw those poor girls, but I couldn’t do anything to help them, so I drank to their health instead.
We stayed at our table for a while, just observing the crowd. Lagaan was talking with Ulfgar, trying to determine the recipe for the beer we had been served, and already making plans to make something similar at their brewery back in Sasserine. While they were doing that, we noticed a poor wretch in the nearby alley being approached by a massive, hairy figure: a Bar-Lgura. The demon growled about recruiting him into the Crimson Pirates and teleported away with him. We now knew how our enemies selected their members… We wished we could’ve captured the Bar-Lgura to learn the location of their base, but he had disappeared before we could do anything.
Lagaan and I then mingled with the crowd to learn the latest rumors, which hopefully included anything that could help us in finding our missing allies. Meanwhile, Ulfgar went on stage and tormented the ogre, who seemed to be taking pleasure in the punishment. Later, I saw that he was talking to the owner, another dwarf, while Sparkie examined the ogre’s rags with an unhealthy amount of interest.
We heard a few rumors, but most were not relevant to our current mission. It seemed that the local fauna was starting to become corrupted. For example, two-headed fish called Sackfish were starting to grow more and more common in the nearby waters. We were convinced that this was a sign of the influence of the Shadow Pearls, but since it was happening in the entire region, it was of no help in pinpointing the location of the Crimson Pirate base. But we remembered seeing fish just like those in Kraken’s Cove. They had been bloated, and tended to explode when poked with a sharp object.
We also learned the location of Red Foam Whaling, which was rumored to be haunted. Apparently, some pirates had at one point decided to try and start a legitimate business, buying from other pirates the cargo of whale parts they had stolen from merchant ships. They made oil and other whale-related products in the building, but apparently, they had eventually abandoned it, as it had proven too much of a hassle compared to regular pirating.
An old friend
After a few hours, we left the establishment and decided to head toward Red Foam Whaling, where we hoped to meet Captain Harliss Javell. Along the way, Ulfgar bought a bag of Sackfish from a vendor with crooked yellow teeth.
“Why are you buying those disgusting fish, Ulfgar?” asked Lagaan. “They don’t look very tasty.”
“They’re not meant to be eaten,” grunted the fish merchant.
“Why are people buying them, then?”
“I don’t know,” said the ugly man with a shrug. “They just do.”
We walked a short distance from the stall, with Ulfgar holding one of the greasy fish in his fist, intending to find a fun thing to throw it at.
“May I take a look at this fish, Ulfgar?” said Sparkillo. The dwarf showed it to him, and he nodded contentedly after a few moments of examination. “It is as I suspected. Those creatures come from the 88th layer of the Abyss, otherwise known as the Gaping Maw: the realm of Demogorgon. My friend, you are holding in your hand a foul denizen of the world of demons.”
“Really?” said Ulfgar. “Cool!” And then he threw the fish at a wall and cackled when it exploded.
A series of experiments were then conducted to observe the effect of those fish on several kinds of surfaces. Lagaan pierced one of them with an arrow in mid-flight. Ulfgar even threw one of them at a mean-looking Yuan-Ti who was dragging about ten human slaves with a heavy chain.
“Fool!” snarled the serpent-man at the giggling dwarf. “You risk facing the wrath of the Seventh Coil with such puerile behavior!”
It then continued on its way, dragging the slaves forward. I got caught up in the amusement, and threw one of the fish at it with my ring of telekinesis. The reptile winced under the impact, but chose not to attack us, even though one of its slaves had gotten hilariously burned by the acidic juice of the exploding fish.
A few minutes later, we walked past a tavern and ran into Zan, the rogue from the Jade Ravens, as he was coming out of it. We were pleasantly surprised to see him here, and he said he’d arrived less than a week ago. However, it was not safe to talk in the middle of the street, so we invited him back to the Sea Wyvern.
Upon our return, we saw Stragdar standing on the deck, nervously watching a group of thugs who were eyeing the ship with the clear intention of looting it. We wanted to discourage them from doing so, not wanting to risk an attack on the ship during our absence, but when we approached to confront them, they scattered in the crowd. I used my ring to grab hold of one of them and force him back toward us via telekinesis.
Raguhl grabbed hold of him as he passed by. “What were you all doing, looking at our ship like that?” he growled.
“N-nuthin’… We wasn’t doing nuthin’!” replied the man.
“LIAR!” roared Raguhl. “NOBODY MESSES WITH OUR SHIP!” And with that, he tore out the man’s throat with his monstrous jaw.
“Hey!” said Ulfgar.
“Raguhl, what the hell are you doing??” asked Lagaan, annoyed.
“What?” asked Raguhl, with fresh blood pouring down from his jaw.
“We could’ve questioned him…”
“Oh, do you really think he had valuable information? I thought we were just supposed to be mean. I’m sorry: I’ll let you capture the next one.”
He threw the remains of the would-be looter into the sea for the sharks to finish. This display of brutality had really not been subtle, but I hoped it would have the desired effect on the crowd and convince them not to come aboard the Sea Wyvern.
Once we were below deck, Sparkillo conjured a Magnificent Mansion. He attuned the shimmering portal to the extra-dimensional space to allow entrance to Zan and every member of the Sea Wyvern’s crew except Avner. That way, even if the ship did get attacked, they would have a safe place to fall back to. Well, except Avner.
Once we were inside the magical dining room, Zan told us his story. He had come here at Liamae’s request. She had informed him that Tolin and Kaskus had come here with Moretta, and that she wanted him to watch over them in this dangerous place.
I felt the cold fingers of fury grip my heart. That B@~!@! She had known all along… She had kept their location from me, even while she had pretended to be my friend. That two-faced, lying, forked-tongued viper!!!
So they were all in on it. All four of the Jade Ravens. And I was confident that Lavinia had known too. And Lagaan. They had all played me for a fool. Clearly, they were only civil to me when they needed me, but this was all some great joke to them. Moretta had betrayed me, after all I’d done for her, and they had taken HER side instead of mine? After all I had done for them? What had Moretta done? NOTHING! That weakling wouldn’t be anything if it weren’t for me! I taught her everything!!!
And now, I was risking life and limb to rescue those lying b~$%&es. They were lucky, they were really lucky, that Brissa had been captured as well. Otherwise, I might’ve abandoned the mission at that very moment.
But at least, I now had confirmation that Moretta was in Scuttlecove, as I had suspected. How very convenient. It seemed that so many people’s paths converged to this accursed city. One way or another, things were about to get very interesting… Very interesting indeed.
Of course, I kept my true feelings hidden and my expression neutral in front of those ungrateful backstabbers. I would pretend to play along with their little game. I would lull them into a false sense of security.
Zan explained that Tolin, Kaskus and Moretta sailed for a long time on a small fishing boat, and were eventually taken aboard a pirate ship. They were able to take control of that pirate ship, somehow, and after doing a bit of raiding, they came to Scuttlecove. Zan was surprised that he hadn’t heard from Liamae in a while, and we explained to him our own reason for being here: to save her sorry arse, among others.
Since he had been here for several days already, I questioned him about he had found out. He didn’t have much to say. I was unimpressed with his information-gathering skills. He didn’t even know where the temples of Umberlee and Talos were in the city. He hadn’t heard anything about Tyria, nor did he even known that she was in town. The only thing he knew about was that some inns were dangerous, but that one of them, called the Rusty Shunt, was likely a hideout used by some so-called “good guys”, a group known as the Protectorate. He suspected that Red Foam Whaling might actually be a front for their operation. He had tried to contact the group, but hadn’t been let in (really – I wonder why!?).
After this exchange of information, Sparkie offered Zan the hospitality of his magical house, and the rogue accepted gladly, claiming he’d barely gotten any sleep since he’d arrived in Scuttlecove. He retired to one of the rooms. Once can only hope that he would prove slightly less useless once he’d had a chance to rest.
My companions and I decided to head back out and go to Red Foam Whaling. We emerged from the magical portal and reappeared inside the Sea Wyvern’s hold, where Avner Meravanchi was waiting for us with his hands on his hips, fuming.
“Sir Rashi, I demand to know why access to this magical portal has been denied to me!” he said.
“Oh, err, it’s something we decided as a group,” replied Sparkie.
“It’s meant as a security measure for the crew of the Sea Wyvern in case of an attack,” I replied.
“But what about me?” raged Avner.
“You’re not my part of the crew, my dear,” I said sweetly.
“This is outrageous! Don’t you realize that if this ship gets attacked, I run the risk of –“
“Oh, you’ll be quite safe if the ship gets attacked.”
“How so?”
“Because you’re coming with us,” I replied with a grin.
“I will do no such – HEY!!!” he yelped as he felt the pull of my ring of telekinesis. As we all climbed back on the deck, I forced him to come with us.
“We’re going for a little walk, Avner,” said Lagaan, chuckling.
Red Foam Whaling
Some time after we left the Sea Wyvern, I let Avner control his own movement again. We made our way toward the western part of town. We were still amidst a crowd of dangerous-looking ruffians, and surprisingly, Avner managed to make himself look mean enough that nobody tried to pick a fight with him. Lagaan and Ulfgar seemed pleased that their training had obtained the desired effect. Lagaan gave Avner the directions to Porphyry House, and we went our separate ways. To be safe, though, I had previously given Avner a magical Quest not to reveal our true identities or otherwise do anything that might harm us, the Sea Wyvern, or its crew.
On the way to Red Foam Whaling, we passed a temple of Cyric, at the gate of which a tiefling priest argued with robed monks of the Dire Hunger. Once again, we thought they looked not quite human, but more like the ghoul-man we had seen earlier collecting body parts.
We finally reached our destination. The building stood at the western edge of the docks, by the sea-side. It looked abandoned, yet the doors were still sturdy and locked. We approached discreetly and knocked on both doors, but got no answer. We couldn’t hear any noise from within, nor detect any sign of activity. It truly seemed deserted. Still, we wanted to explore this place and see what it looked like inside. I asked Sparkillo to cast a See Invisibility spell, but he shrugged and said it wouldn’t be necessary.
Lagaan picked the side door’s lock and we entered the decrepit building. It indeed looked abandoned at first glance, but upon closer examination, we discovered signs that it had recently served as a base for a group of people. The piers had been discreetly reinforced; there was a serviceable fishing boat tied there. Whoever had done the renovations there had gone to some lengths to make the place looked like it was still abandoned. So clearly, we were in a secret base of some kind.
Further exploration led us into old offices with rotting furniture, storage rooms with moldering crates that contained various kinds of disguises (which were new and in good condition), and sleeping quarters with twelve hammocks in total. Hidden behind some rusting whaling equipment, we noticed some high-quality weapons that had been polished recently. But still, we found no sign of the place’s inhabitants.
We ended up in a room with a large table on which several maps were folded up. One of the maps showed Scuttlecove, and some blue circles and red crosses had been drawn on it. The circles included Red Foam Whaling (a double circle), the Rusty Shunt (another double circle), with a line connecting them. Did this mean there was a secret underground tunnel somewhere? Other single blue circles surrounded an orphanage to the northeast and a place called the Tall House in the eastern slums, although this one also had a question mark next to it. Red X’s covered a tower near Bone’s tower, and the central plaza (with the words ‘need to try again’ badly written next to it).
“The blue circles must show this group’s areas of influence,” said Sparkillo, “and the red crosses those of their enemies.”
“Nah,” said Ulfgar with a wink, “I’m sure it’s only related to the whaling business. You know, where they sell their oil and stuff.”
I chuckled and folded up all of the maps before securing them in the portable hole.
The trap
We then entered the last room of the building. It looked like an old bedroom, and on the ground, we saw a shape moving groggily, as though she were just regaining consciousness after being knocked out. She was an athletic woman with long dark hair, and we recognized her as Harliss.
Ulfgar and Lagaan approached the moaning woman, but I stopped them at the last moment.
“Wait!” I said.
“What?” asked Ulfgar.
“I’m not sure… Something’s wrong…” Indeed, I couldn’t quite tell what was wrong. But by intuition, I felt something was off. Perhaps it was the way Harliss moved, or moaned, or didn’t look wounded… I felt there was something strange about her, and that helping her might be dangerous. I lifted her body with my ring of telekinesis and slowly spun her around so we could all observe her. Indeed, she didn’t seem hurt, so we thought that perhaps she had been drugged. Her eyes still closed, she moaned in a rather suggestive way, perhaps to encourage the men to approach her. But it seemed to me that the real Harliss Javell wouldn’t have behaved like that.
Of course, we would’ve realized what was really going on if that idiot Sparkie had actually listened to me for once and had cast his See Invisibility spell. What he would’ve seen would have been three vicious-looking Yuan-Ti assassins clinging to the ceiling and targeting some of us with their bows for shots of deadly precision.
The snake-men launched their ambush when Sparkie cast a Detect Magic spell to try and figure out what was wrong with Harliss. Lagaan, Raguhl and I were all hit by arrows, and only because our reflexes had been honed to superhuman levels throughout our adventures did we avoid being slain on the spot! One arrow penetrated a gap in my armor, but I moved just in time to avoid having it fatally pierce my neck!
Combat began in these cramped quarters. Ulfgar, Lagaan and I were in the room with Harliss and two of the assassins. Raguhl and Sparkie were still in the room behind, the one where we had found the maps. One of the Yuan-Ti’s had dropped to the ground there and moved against Raguhl with daggers in its hands. In our room, the far door burst open and a monstrously large Yuan-Ti appeared behind it. It was much larger than the others, as big as an ogre really, and utterly grotesque in appearance. Its head seemed to have been scarred by acid, burning away the flesh of its jaws, which was left in a permanent, sickly smile of dagger-like teeth. As soon as my comrades approached, they were assailed by the aura of despair that surrounded the Yuan-Ti leader, who was surely one of the dreaded Blackguards, some of the most dangerous warriors in the world.
It all happened very quickly. I heard sounds of a quick but brutal fight in the room behind, as Raguhl battled the Yuan-Ti assassin that had tried to murder him. Things did not go well for the snake-man, as Raguhl proved that he was the superior reptile. Using his magic, the assassin vanished just in time to avoid obliteration by the raging barbarian.
Suddenly, our movements quickened under a Haste spell from Sparkillo. Ulfgar and Lagaan engaged the two Yuan-Ti assassins in the front. The blackguard cast a nasty spell that Lagaan barely survived, and I surrounded him with Silence to prevent him from trying again. As they came down to fight Ulfgar and Lagaan, the two assassins threw beads of force in our direction, causing twin explosions of energy. We were barely able to avoid them, but at the locations they hit, two large globes of impenetrable shimmering energy now stood. Ulfgar and Lagaan were now stuck alone against the two assassins and the blackguard. Sparkillo and Raguhl were stuck in the room behind us. And me, I was stuck in a tiny space between the two spheres and the back wall; I had almost gotten crushed by the impact!
Cursing at my misfortune, I tried to keep an eye on the battlefield, but I could only dimly see the shapes of allies and foes battling each other through the shimmering walls. I couldn’t tell precisely what happened, but the others described it to me later on. Raguhl and Sparkie retraced our steps toward the piers and were able to attack the blackguard from there. Once they reached the balcony overlooking the water, they realized that the bloody assassin who had fled from Raguhl had in fact reappeared over there. Entering the zone of silence, Raguhl sliced him in two with his glowing greatsword.
The blackguard then unleashed his rage against Raguhl, wounding him with his bite, scimitar and flailing tentacles. Like Khala, this enemy could wither the flesh of his enemies with his tentacles, and like the kopru high priest in Golismorga, he could double himself in time and perform more actions than a normal being in combat. Suddenly, though, he vanished: he had been the victim of Sparkillo’s newly discovered Maze spell.
With great difficulty, I bent down and looked through the tiny space between the two glowing spheres and the wooden floor. There, I had an unobstructed view of my companion’s booted feet, and the scaled coils of the Yuan-Ti. I aimed one of my deadly Slay Living spells at one of the assassins, but alas, it survived the spell, only being shocked unpleasantly. Nevertheless, Ulfgar and Lagaan seemed to be doing well against our reptilian enemies. Their green blood flowed to the ground, making it slick for ‘poor’ Harliss who was now trying to get to her feet.
Indeed, this impostor soon showed her true colors. When the two assassins finally fell to the ground, hacked to pieces by Ulfgar and Lagaan, she fled the zone of silence, running toward the balcony like a frightened little harlot. When she dove into the water, Raguhl jumped after her, stabbing her in the back. Alas, she was then able to teleport away like demons often do. Due to this, it is our suspicion that she was in fact a succubus impersonating the pirate captain.
Our last enemy, the scarred Yuan-Ti blackguard, soon reappeared. Sparkillo failed to affect it with a Feeblemind spell, but it was soon attacked by Ulfgar, and by Raguhl as well, who climbed back on the balcony, dripping wet. While that epic battle was going on (still in total silence), I tried to dispel one of the spheres that held me prisoner, but the damned things wouldn’t collapse. Thankfully, the wall behind me suddenly disappeared: that dear Sparkillo had come back for me and had used his cursed axe’s power to create a Passwall behind me. The gap showed us the street, where baffled bystanders gaped in surprise at the scene of battle they could vaguely see behind the two spheres of force. They all hurried along, not wanting to risk their lives tangling with whatever was going on here.
Sparkie and I ran back to the balcony. The Yuan-Ti blackguard was a strong opponent and had wounded Raguhl and Ulfgar, but it too was bleeding from many places. I heard Sparkie quickly utter a few arcane phrases, and suddenly, three beams of fire emerged from his outstretched fingers and blasted the serpentine fiend, burning him to death.
“SPARKILLO!” exclaimed the victorious elf at my side.
My previous blessing works fine, because I didn't find any typo...
Great story, but your DM seems to get lazy, or too nice. I mean, how many NPC's can pop up out of the walls with detailed information on Scuttlecove in a single session? Keep the story moving forward at a quick pace though.
Waiting for Belessa's reaction to the last "betrayal"...