That we were almost mentioned by name was worrying. From these writings, and taking them at face value, it appeared that there was some prophecy being fulfilled or plan being worked towards that these Ebon Triadists were involved with. Trying to sort the information from the prose, I drew out the following:
Characters involved included an Evil Champion of the Ebon Triad, a Red Dragon in a rift of some sort, the Overgod itself, a Colossal Evil Entity, which by context is not the Overgod but may be the champion, lots of wormy undead, some nasty sages and ‘agents’, a creature bound by others in chains and left above a shadowy abyss for a long time, and an unnamed ‘exile phantom’ from another world, who will fade from existence and be replaced with a ‘doomed priest’, which may or may not be Grallak Kur. But it’s all muddled as to who is dreaming of who, and the timings are non-standard, to say the least.
Oh yes. And us.
Places or items mentioned include a Dark Pool with something in it – maybe the one outside this complex, a Necromantic Monolith with something in it – which could be the same ‘something’ as in the Dark Pool, a Rift serving as lair for the red dragon, an Abyss which holds some creature in its depths, as well as this doomed priest mentioned earlier.
And finally, looking at chronology, we have prophecies being fulfilled, great power stirring – in a pool, in a monolith, in a rift, and in the abyss, armies of Oerth being involved, a colossal malign entity and evil champion taking part, the Age of Worms coming about, hordes of undead rising, ‘Darkness, Death and Decay’, the trinity of Hextor, Erythnul and Vecna combining, the Overgod arising, and then “a New World in his image, where those who served well, will wage endless war and feast on the souls of the craven, washed down with the fermented wine of their warm, fear-soaked blood.”
Not good. I resolved to consider these prophecies in more detail when I had access to some sage advice and persons more knowledgeable than I. As I wrote these down, Terreg noticed that I was studying the writings, and he offered me this:
"At last the will of the ebon triad be done! With the return of great Kyuss the Age of Worms is upon us!"
These were the words of Grallak Kur before we entered the chamber, as heard by Terreg. They were not recorded for posterity in his ramblings, but I have written them here in case they prove portentous... Is Kyuss the Overgod? Is he the Champion? Or the Colossal Malign Entity? Perhaps even the dragon? Or maybe the ‘great power’ mentioned? Or even, something else?
It was telling that these records were far more detailed than the writings of Theldrick – perhaps he did not trust to their veracity, or found them too obtuse? I certainly did!
A surprise awaits us when we return to the main temple area - the elevator has been lifted back up. We wait to see if something comes down, but nothing does.
I look to the dark pool at the end of the chamber with trepidation and worry, but nothing is stirring yet. Mélinde is still in the Hextorian temple, waiting for us to return back above ground.
We turned our attention to the last temple, and the silver key with the symbol of Vecna upon it. After a day's rest we will enter their chamber and seek out their secrets - a labyrinth, magic and 'birds' await us...
We approached the last door, and I searched to find no traps. Using the key, we gained entrance to the place. I wondered what madness and evil may greet us here as I led the way.
The corridors that followed were of uniformly well-crafted stone, with some magical flame illuminating the way every 20 feet or so. We had little time to appreciate the masons’ work however, as we were faced with a labyrinth of passages and intersections, requiring us to make impromptu maps of our surroundings. Only mine was accurate however. After going through various corridors, junctions and rooms, our Storm Knight heard sounds of humans, crying out in pain and fear down one corridor. I exhorted him to wait until we were all able to follow, but he ploughed on regardless. At the same time, we were attacked.
A pebble landed at our feet, and promptly exploded. This was closely followed by a green ray that struck Alun, and he was suddenly weakened. We heard a spell being cast - Alun listened to the chanting and shouted out “Grease!” Then, a vial of alchemist’s fire exploded right in front of him. The flames licked his arms and chest, and a pool of fire was now burning right in front of us.
Alun decided to jump through the flames, taking minor damage as he did so. He continued on down the corridor and momentarily skidded on a floor slab, but almost miraculously kept his footing and carried on unaffected. He hit the floor with his mace and shouted "It's there" before reaching the turn in the passageway. He stopped then, as if confronted by something past the corner. I then moved down, succeeding in avoiding the flames, and came to a stop just before the greased area. I looked at the wall, and decided that trying to climb up it to avoid the effect would be pointless in a combat sense. Tegan followed up behind me. I wondered where Malakai was.
The unseen creature attacked Alun with a club, but it was a wild flailing and did not connect. It then ran away, risking a blow from Alun as it fled. A crossbow bolt then sailed over Alun's head. The Shield Knight yelled out "Cut him off back there!" and pointed down the last junction we had come past. He then moved away down the corridor in front of us.
‘We shall get lost down here’, I remember thinking at the time.
Thinking of Malakai, I shouted at the top of my lungs "Malakai, get over here - left turns at junctions!" My mapping was accurate, but would our paladin know right from left? I then moved back as directed to hopefully intercept whatever creature was running away. A short jog and it appeared round a corner, facing off against Alun. For the first sighting of our enemy, it was unprepossessing. It appeared to be some kind of wingless, weaselly, bird-like creature, holding a club and wearing leather armour. I swiped at it, but it was canny and avoided my blade. I then heard Tegan move but did not see where she went.
‘We shall definitely get lost down here’, I thought.
The bird facing me attempted to strike me with its club and its foot talon, but did not manage to get near me. ‘You may be canny, but I am more than your match’, I thought. Alun attacked back, but failed to strike. I ducked below its guard, and sliced it across the chest. It gurgled blood and dropped to the floor. I moved to where Tegan was and then past her. "Stay together!" I shouted, and then came to a more open corridor. From up ahead, an unknown assailant shot a crossbow bolt at me, but it passed by me harmlessly. Tegan moved ahead, but saw nothing of whoever fired at me.
Looking behind, I did not see Alun move into sight. I decided to get to Tegan and see if Alun was carrying on in the same direction. I moved past her, moved through some other corridors and spot Alun. I said to both as I passed "Follow me". I returned to a corner where both should have been able to see me after moving, "I am here!" I shouted. ‘A scout announcing his location. The irony’, my subconscious mocked me. Tegan then moved up and just beyond me, in a visible, defensive position. ‘She gets it’, I thought.
A sobering thought entered my head then ‘We may not get lost, but our Storm Knight surely is already.’
I looked up the corridor, to see if Alun was coming down. As I looked, I saw a cloaked, birdy figure move across the corridor some 40 feet back from where we were. I shouted "Up there!" as I was shot at by two of the creatures. I then saw Alun move up to where they were now surely hidden, and he struck out to his right. A spindly figure dropped to the ground in front of him.
I moved around the back corridors then, moving as fast as possible in the twists and turns of the labyrinth. I ended up staring across the corridor Alun was in, at the other bird-man. The first one was dead at my feet. I didn't see Tegan where we left her, however. ‘Maybe she doesn't get it. Bugger’. Thinking that, I realised that I had moved twice as fast as she could manage, and she may have just been trying to catch me up. And it appeared that we had caught them off guard at last!
As Alun stood there, another birdman moved up behind him and the first moved to flank. They both attempted to strike him in a coordinated move, but failed to connect. I was about to attack the one I saw first, when I was affected by some magical force, and felt a dizziness and strangeness. I was unable to coordinate my movements. I heard a cackling, squawking voice from behind me.
‘Crap, and we don't know where Tegan is.’ I thought whilst trying to regain my composure.
The two creatures facing Alun struck again, and one landed a solid blow on the Shield Knight. I was then hit by a green ray, which I could not avoid well due to my dizziness, and became weaker. ‘I now know why I don't wear platemail and wield a greatsword’ I thought as my sword became almost to heavy to wield. Alun swung and missed. I recovered my senses and moved to strike one of the birdmen facing Alun, but my blow was not the best, and my weakened strength meant that I failed to hurt it.
We heard Tegan battling a short distance away. ‘For the second time in this place, where is Malakai?’ I wondered.
The two birdmen swiped at Alun, and both managed to bash their clubs across his head. Alun nearly dropped to the floor, but managed to stay upright. Our Shield Knight was made of sterner stuff than these creatures could defeat.
I saw the dwarf waiting for me to take decisive action. I did so. A feint to the left and a swipe to the right, and my sword cut the throat of the birdman in front of me all the way across. It dropped without a sound. I then saw Alun move away from the other creature that was flanking him and cure himself. I then interposed myself between him and the bird. All of a sudden, a burst of spider webs covered us, but I and Alun managed to escape being fully caught by the strands.
Following this, it got a little chaotic. We had birdman wizards, or perhaps they were acolytes, hitting us with magic missiles from concealed positions, and once we were out of the webs, rogues were trying to surround us, strike and move off. Tegan appeared as we moved about the labyrinth, and was webbed as well. The field of battle was constantly moving due to the guerrilla tactics of the birds, and although I was getting the better of them due to my superior speed, something then came upon us that I could not best in the usual way.
From around one corner of the seemingly endless corridors of this place, a creature floated into view. It looked like a thing out of nightmares. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, but a shape without features, a shape that had been distorted and bristled with madness. From the waist down, its body trailed away into vaporous nothingness, leaving a faint trace of fog behind it as it moved.
It floated around the passages without regard to its safety or indeed to the walls that should’ve prevented it from moving. As it moved, it talked in a susurration of nonsense and babble. As I heard this, I became foggy of mind and will, and I knew nothing for some time.
When I came to, the thing was gone. Tegan was standing next to me, and Alun was nearby. There were no more opponents, but a worn and bloodied Malakai was with us! Tegan told me that the creature, known as an allip, was driven off through magic and ensorcelled weapons, and that Malakai was mobbed when he moved off down one passage, and had only now defeated all of his assailants and then found his way back to the rest of us.
Alun told me that a doorway to some sort of storage room had been found, and that this was probably our best bet for continuing our advance. We girded our loins, and headed onwards.
The storage room was unremarkable, except for the variety and quality of the items it contained. Only one other exit was obvious in the room: a short corridor leading to a door about thirty feet ahead. I moved up to be at one side of the corridors entrance, allowing me to study the door at the far end. The door was slightly ajar, and from listening and spying out for shadows, I could tell that someone lurked behind it. We decided wordlessly to proceed.
Alun moved up and cast a protective spell upon us all. Tegan moved up to be level with me on the other side of the corridors entrance. As she moved, her clanging armour attracted the attention of the person beyond, and a ray of flame shot out and hit her in the chest, making her stumble momentarily.
I moved next, up to and beyond the door. I entered a small living chamber with two beds, another door out, closed, and an entrance to a large chamber. No-one was in the room that I could see. I moved into the large chamber - it was filled with a green, sickly light. At this end of the room I saw an altar. Atop it was a glowing green rock, and a hand with a spherical object in its grasp. The rock was the source of the sickly light. The room itself had pillars holding up the ceiling, and two doors on each side, apposite each other. There was also a ten foot wide arch leading out the other end of the room. These were all the details I had the chance to spy when I moved in.
Unfortunately, around the other side of the altar one of the masked creatures awaited, and dazed me with a spell. As I struggled to regain my composure, I vaguely heard Malakai move up behind me. In front of us we heard a voice speak in common "Get the paladin!"
I saw another robed figure stand at the opposite entrance to the chamber. After this, I heard Alun move up to be at my back. I heard a spell being cast behind me and a spray of colour reflected off the walls, but I was unaffected. I saw another of the acolytes move to the other end of the corridor and away from us. Then, another acolyte moved out briefly from that exit to hit me with a magic missile.
I gasped, but carried on, slowly recovering from the daze. A large, fiendish ape suddenly appeared in front of me, and swiped me across the chest. I bounced back hard into the wall behind me, and struggled to stay upright. Not for the last time, I thought ‘Why did I have to end up at the front? Damn my blasted speed!’ Behind me, I heard Mal still groaning and reeling from the colour spray, and then Alun cast a spell.
Malakai then immediately cried out in victory and anger. Another acolyte or perhaps one that had previously ran off, appeared at the far end holding some kind of rod. I wondered how many of these annoying creatures were in this place. Behind me I heard more chanting but a stumble and a stutter meant nothing else happened. At almost the same time I heard Tegan's war axe hit something. One wasted spell there then, I thought smugly.
I moved next. The situation required a bit of inventive tactical movement. I danced back out of the way of the ape, and moved through Alun, Tegan and Malakai to the door out of the living quarters. I moved through that, and through the chamber beyond. The chamber was lined with shelves, and had papers and rubbish strewn across the floor. I smelt something acrid within that room that reminded me of Alchemists fire and I decided to move on through the door at the far end.
Beyond that door was a short passageway. There were also two acolytes. I shouted for people to come down through the chamber, as by my reckoning this passageway connected to the main chamber, or chapel as I later thought of it, by one of the doors I had noticed earlier. There was also another exit right in front of me, which must lead elsewhere. Moments later I heard an armoured figure come down behind me. It was not the way I had indicated, but I was glad all the same. After this, one of the acolytes tumbled away from me back into the main chapel and closed the door to this passage. I heard a spell being cast on the other side but couldn’t identify what it was.
I did not know what was happening in the chapel, but I heard the ape roaring. Optimistically, I hoped it was roaring in pain. I then heard the sound of a heavily armoured human move down to just outside the door the first acolyte had retreated through. It could only be Malakai, I thought. The remaining acolyte in front of me ran out through the door ahead, and closed it behind him.
I glanced behind me to see it was Tegan that had followed me. I hoped that our Shield and Storm Knights were acquitting themselves well on the other side. I then moved to open the door back into the chapel, but it was magically locked. I swore and moved around to where the other acolyte disappeared. Opening that door, I was surprised to see that he was no longer there. Either he was faster than me, or hidden. I resolved to stay alert.
Our Stone Knight then came up next to me. We were now at the far end of the chapel, round the other side of the ten foot wide archway. No-one was visible at this end, but two acolytes were still in the room, one of which was the one that locked the door, now with a glowing hand, and the one with the rod, who had yet to do anything as far as I could tell. And of course Malakai was there. No sign of Alun though. I then saw a web spell go off in the living quarters, and knew where our Shield Knight was.
The acolyte facing Mal then attacked with his glowing hand. The paladin was no crowd-pleasing acrobat, but he deftly moved to one side and the touch did not land. The masked apprentice then tumbled out of the way, almost as nimbly as I, moving across the chapel floor and shrieking in an unknown, dark, and hideous tongue. The ape then moved up to Malakai, and tried to hit him with a malevolent balefire punch. It too missed our Storm Knight.
The acolyte with the rod panicked and ran past us, trying to retreat, but within the reach of Tegan’s axe. She hit it with an almighty swipe, but the robed figure moved on past, out this end of the chapel and along a corridor, away from us. Malakai then moved to the last acolyte remaining and swiped him across the stomach. The acolyte grunted but carried on moving.
We then heard a shout coming from the corridor away from the chapel, where the other acolytes had fled. In a monstrous guttural voice, it shouted "Get back in there!"
The actions of the last few moments had distracted me from the blow I had received in getting this far through the chapel. Suddenly reminded by the pain across my chest from the ape’s blow I coughed and gasped, while Tegan applied a touch of her wand of vigor to me. I then moved up to the acolyte Malakai was facing, the one who locked the door, and swung. An invisible magical field deflected my accurate blow just enough to make me miss. Tegan moved off behind me down the path the retreating acolytes went.
The acolyte with the still-glowing hand swiped at Malakai, but missed yet again. Obviously the conviction of our paladin’s calling is unnerving the evil cultist. He then moved off a short distance. I saw then another acolyte move into the room, from yet another door. The fiendish ape howled and pounced at Malakai, and managed to get a hold on him despite a wound from the paladin as it moved in. The ape followed up that grapple with a bite, but did not pierce his armour.
I then saw Alun, now greatly increased in size, reach into the room and smack at the new acolyte, but his blow was not accurate. The clinging strands of web that still entangled him must have affected our Shield Knight’s swing. The acolyte responded by casting a fire spell from his fingertips - striking Alun, and causing the webs around him to burn and singe the enlarged dwarf even more. The acolyte then moved out of the room, back the way it came.
I then moved around the ape and Malakai, still locked in a grapple, to attack the acolyte with the glowing hand. Once more, the magical shield protecting him managed to deflect my blow. I was starting to get seriously annoyed here, and I wondered if this was in fact a leader in disguise, and not an acolyte. The now-designated leader, recognising my speed would make his attacks pointless, moved to hit Malakai with his illuminated hand – I could see that the paladin had not taken it well, as exhaustion wracked his body. The ape then pinned Malakai with both arms, and bit savagely into his arm as he struggled to escape the grapple. Worryingly, the glow still remained about the hand of the leader.
Alun, realising the lethality of the situation, moved in then and hit the ape. I took the respite as an opportunity to move up to the leader and swing again with my sword, but again miss. He responded by hitting me with his still-glowing hand. I momentarily feel consumed with fatigue, but with determination I managed to ward off its effects. The leader moved away then, fearful of a successful strike from me.
I realised that I risked losing my comrades to the ape in my efforts to defeat the leader. With this realization, I moved swiftly over, past the large dwarf, to the grappling paladin and ape. I leapt in with a lightning fast slash to the ape’s exposed neck. The blow ripped apart larynx and exposed bone, and it dropped, silently. However, we were then in a straight line.
A lightning bolt from the leader came down that line. Malakai bravely shielded me and Alun from the brunt of the bolt, but took the full force himself. His body, electrified, glowing and burning, fell to the floor. By some miracle of the god of valour however, he still breathed. Alun also fell to the floor, his breathing slightly less ragged however. For myself, I was gravely burnt, and excruciating pain arced across my body as the bolt went through me, but I managed to keep conscious. As for the leader, he saw that I was still mobile and dangerous, and quickly fled, back through the door he had originally locked with magic. I remembered that this was back to the rooms with the documents and rubbish, and through that back to the labyrinth.
Torn momentarily by the urge to chase and slay the wizard, and my need to save my colleagues, I headed over to Alun first and poured a potion down his throat. This was my last remaining healing potion. He got up then, and immediately tended to Malakai. After a few moments of Alun’s ministrations, our Storm Knight was upright once again. I thought twice and then wisely reconsidered before I made a pun out of my nickname for him. As this was going on, Tegan appeared from around the far corner, badly wounded. She cured herself and we retreated to the living quarters. Tegan told us of her fight with another acolyte and how another web spell caught her beyond the other exit from the chapel.
As we made our way there, I smelt burning, reminiscent of alchemist’s fire. I shouted out, “The document room!” but before I could take action, we encountered the rod-wielding acolyte who was acting erratically earlier in the fight. Alun subdued him to find out it was none other than Jieran - the priest of St Cuthbert in Diamond Lake. The ‘rod’ was little more than a stick, that in the wan green light of the room we had mistaken for a weapon.
The burning continued in the room with the documents, and the smell of alchemist’s fire became more cloying. A strange wave of fear washed over Tegan, her expression terrified and scared, but she resisted its effects after a moment. A second later however, she fell to the floor, put asleep by some invisible magical force.
Another unseen spell batters at Alun, making him stagger, but he avoids whatever effect it would have done by sheer force of mind.
I moved over to Tegan and attempted to wake her, shaking her shoulders and shouting. Whilst doing so, out of the corner of my eye I saw an 'eyeballs and chain' creature, like the one we encountered down the Whispering Cairn, hovering up against the ceiling. I shouted out a warning to the others, which also managed to wake Tegan. Alun took a swipe at the creature, being large he was able to reach the roof, but the thing was fast moving and small, and he missed.
Meanwhile, Mal ran into the burning room to confront the leader that bolted us. Looking on, I saw an eyeball creature, previously hidden or elsewhere, wrapped around the leaders neck. The thing turned to Mal and shot its rays out at him, but he was unaffected. The leader, who I now think is far more important and powerful than the others, almost certainly the high priest, then tumbled away from Mal, back into the corridor where I first saw him.
I knew that this would just continue the pattern already established, and I was the only one who was fast enough to stop him. I moved completely around the chapel, avoiding the closed door that may yet still me magically barred against my access, into the corridor at the opposite end, and faced up against the leader. He had now both Malakai and I to contend with.
Alun continued to fight the first eyeball creature, squishing it against the wall. "I've got it!" he shouted.
Meanwhile, I was the only thing that threatened the cult high priest’s escape, as Mal was simply not fast enough. The eyeball creature around the leader’s neck focused on me. Two rays shot out from it and struck me. I was overcome by a wearying fatigue and unnerving fear, but I fought off both effects as I thought how close this creature came to killing us all, and how determined I was that he would not succeed.
Almost at the same time, another fiendish ape appeared behind Mal, and the leader moved out the door that lay between me and him, the one that I found to be locked.
I hesitated for a split-second, knowing that the last time I left Mal fighting a fiendish ape he ended up at death’s door. This time however, both Alun and Tegan were right behind him, and I knew the Knights of Shield and Stone would not let our Storm Knight down. I followed the high priest round the other corridor, knowing his escape would be blocked by the web that caught Tegan. Reaching him, I plunged my blade into his side, through all his defences. "That's for bolting us, you bastard!" I shouted. He responded by snickering to himself, somewhat oddly given the circumstances.
Meanwhile I heard Tegan shout to Alun that I was fighting the leader, and he moved into the room - slowly because of his size. Tegan healed him as he went through. Malakai, fighting solo now, swung his blade at the ape and scored it across the chest.
The leader then cast a flaming sphere spell at Alun, burning his legs. He then tumbled from me, heading for a corridor away from the chapel. Meanwhile, the ape clawed at Mal, tearing at his shoulders and arms.
I moved back up to the fleeing high priest, and plunged my sword into his side. "Don't you run away, fecker!" I say, with enthusiasm. I hoped Tegan was helping Mal with that ape, as Alun cured himself. Unfortunately, the flaming ball that rolled up against Alun now touched me, and I was burnt by its flames.
The wizard shouted “You're too late!” as he moved through a door. From my mapping earlier, I knew this led back to the maze.
I followed the cultist. Straight after the door was a dead end. Noting the blood spilt by this evil wizard, I pressed against the wall in front of me, and found a secret door. Opening it lost me much time though.
Behind me, I heard a massive ‘Thunk!’ followed by a cheer from the Stone Knight. 'Scratch one ape' I thought.
Alun, now of normal size, moved up behind me and healed himself. I didn't know what the others were doing, and beyond the secret door the wizard was silent.
I heard a movement, and ran through the door. I saw two exits and managed to hear him running. I followed up, straining my ears to make sure I was going the right way, and spotted him. Moving up I slashed at him in the side. What followed was a cat and mouse chase through corridors and round junctions. At all times I kept pace with him and struck him, my speed allowing me to make running attacks as he fled. He managed to bluff me at one junction, and dodged into a side tunnel. However, I caught up with him again as he quaffed a potion. The fight continued. 'I need back up here!' I thought.
The eyeball creature continued to blast rays at me, but I dodged and weaved and avoided their effects. The wizard moved away from me again, round a corner, and I heard the crackle of a lightning bolt down the corridor. I moved up and found Alun at the other side of him, somewhat singed. I swiped but missed. Again the eyeballs hit me with their rays, but I somehow resisted the effects. My concentration must have been absolute. The wizard tumbled past Alun and lurched toward the labyrinth’s exit. I followed, dropping my sword and drawing my bow. I shot at him, but missed. He hit me with a magic missile as he continued – heading for the pool, but for what reason I could not fathom. I carried on, shooting wildly as I went, with no arrow striking true. Alun moved up behind me, and healed me as I went.
I took my sword from Alun, who must have picked it up. I then charged the wizard as he reached the edge of the black water pit. I plunged my blade into his back and he slumped over, blood pouring out. I managed to grab his robes though, stopping him form falling into the pool. The chase was over.
We took stock. Besides the wizard-priest, there was also a dead acolyte beside the pool, his twisted and broken body indicating some strange cause of death. I removed the mask from the leader. A white, hairless, scarred face with dead eyes stared back at me. 'Humph' I thought.
We then returned to the Hextor temple. Terreg the miner had barricaded the door but we pound on the door, and after a few odd questions he let us in. It turned out two of the birdmen, who we later found out were called kenku, got in by imitating our voices. Mélinde targeted and killed them by locating their evil with her paladin ability.
We revisited the Vecnan temple. A map was found and we investigated the rest of the place, finding the kenkus nests. We also found the notebook of the Faceless One, somehow surviving the flames in the document room. This had a translation cipher for a coded message that Theldrick had in his study that previously I had dismissed as garbled rubbish.
Reading the translation, we learnt that the aim of the Ebon Triad, at least as far as the Faceless One was concerned, is to bring about the Age of Worms, using the god Kyuss. This would allow their Overgod (a trinity of Hextor, Vecna and Erythnul) to arise. We had stopped their activities here, but there was a warning that doing so may awaken an Aspect of the Overgod here in this place, which I found highly worrying, seeing as we were still down here, and that this ‘Aspect’ could only be malevolent.
There was more, as apparently they wanted to find undead bearing 'the worms of Kyuss', and something of what they needed, worms or something else, may be found amongst the lizardmen of the Mistmarsh.
Back with Melinde and Terreg, it was agreed that our stay here was over, and that we should return above ground. The black pool would have to wait until later. I decided that the only way was for me to climb out and lower the elevator for everyone else. It was a tricky climb, but I knew I could handle it. I climbed up the columns to the lip of the elevator shaft. At this point I heard noises from above, so presumably the elevator chamber had occupants, and likely non-friendly ones at that. Using the rope of climbing to attach to the other side of the shaft, I clambered round the lip and tried to quietly ascend to the top chamber.
Getting up there, I found no-one in the chamber. I searched the room, but found nothing. Whilst examining the elevator for sabotage, I had a blade placed against my neck. "Don't move if you know what's good for you. You owe me 50 gold" said a raspy voice. It was our old ‘friend’ Rastaphan from Kullen's gang, who we paid to go away. He said that he was sent to kill any who came out, but I managed to convince him to let me go back down and bring up our group (which now also consisted of Mélinde, Jeiran, the miner and the unconscious Faceless One). Rastaphan stayed above while I lowered the elevator.
Getting down, I related the conversation I had had to the others. We debated whom we should send next. I argued that if we put all our heavy melee combatants up next, then not only would they be able to get up quicker, but that might intimidate Rastophan so as to not cause trouble. Everyone agreed, and I stayed down with Melinde, Jeiran, Terreg and the unconscious wizard-priest, who must be The Faceless One of Theldrick’s journals. Alun, Malakai and Tegan ascended up in the elevator. While they were gone, however, the Faceless One, obviously feigning his unconsciousness, tried to cast a spell. With our main fighters absent, he must have thought I was easy prey. I managed to interrupt his spell casting, but unfortunately could not avoid causing him a grievous wound, in my state of wariness and caution.
He would die in but seconds. Having been on the receiving end of a lightning bolt that nearly slew three of us, I was not in a position to mourn him much. I was about to relate to blind Melinde and Terreg, who had been surprised into inaction over the events, how we would not need to carry a prisoner up in the elevator, when he opened his eyes! They were now filled with black and with his death rattles, said "At last!"
His body started to dissolve and its colour drain as it turned to the purest black. Slowly, a pool of black oil began to form where he lay.