Cautiously, bow in hand, I ventured down. Looking at the boarded up door as I passed, I noticed that someone had made a really good attempt to seal that door. As I reached the end, the rubble and sacks were strewn aside and an undead creature, with green worms writhing in empty eye sockets, leapt out at us!
‘Hideous undead!’ I thought to myself, and released my arrow at its body. It struck its chest and remained there, protruding. It did not halt though, and as I saw more worms coming out of the hole in its chest, I am ashamed to admit I was struck with fear and fled back, beyond my comrades.
The creature moved up to Malakai and lunged at him. Alun managed to essay a short prayer to St Cuthbert to grant us all sacred armour. That alone saved Malakai from being struck, but did not stop the worms from leaping off the corpse onto Malakai's armour. They started to crawl...
Alun then used his power to harm undead, as he had been expecting the non-living to be down here. This harmed the creature, and at the same time healed one of the soldiers behind us with positive energy.
The initial surprise was then over, and the Knights of the Cairn Hills got stuck in.
Malakai went first. “Back to the grave from which you rose!” he commanded as he smote the thing in the chest with his sword. It responded by flailing at the Storm Knight, ineffectually. However it dropped more worms on Malakai as it did so, and these too started to dig beneath the Knight’s armour. Freya then sent a scorching ray at it, which burned it mightily. It fell to the floor, and the worms inside it spilled out lifelessly. The creature spasmed as it burned and green ichor from its collapsing body sprayed around the tunnel. I continued to flee.
Malakai then screamed "Get them off me, get it out!" And the clerics surrounded him. It all seemed very chaotic, but the end result, as it was told to me later, was that the two worms had burrowed into Malakai's body and started moving towards his brain. Tegan used her healing skills with Freya's silver dagger to extricate them, but not before they caused considerable damage and some temporary debilitating effects to his thinking, which was never too quick to begin with.
That was the guard, Ungor. Scratched into the wall were his last thoughts: ‘Burn my body, I have locked myself in here. The worms are in my brain - I don't know how long I can last. The kobolds have killed me.’
‘Okay...’ I thought. Kobolds?
Now, this made all bets off on the wizard's motives, and called my theory about the dragon into question... I re-examined the documents, and found a reference to where the lizards lived. We now knew our next steps.
But what about THAT DRAGON?
During the night, one of the guards reported that the trapdoor to the roof was damaged. I was asleep, and was not woken by the others. Therefore, my account of this is quite sketchy,
They went to the top floor, and found the trapdoor eaten away by acid. Mal climbed the ladder and scanned the roof for any presence of evil, but got nothing. The roof was covered in strings of evil-smelling, vinegary saliva.
As he was doing this, a dragon poked its head over the battlements, and breathed a stream of acid at him. He avoided most of it by ducking down, but still got hit by splashes off the edge of the trapdoor. When my comrades recounted this to me, I was incredulous of them facing a dragon, until they told me it was the size of a dog.
Mal climbed out of the hole, and whilst prone, rolled over to the dragon. With a shout of “For Heironeous!” he slashed it with his sword, and the small scaly beast was badly wounded by the attack.
Tegan and Freya started climbing the ladder, and cast defensive spells as they did so.
A short fight ensued, during which the dragon did little damage until it breathed again, catching all three of the Knights present, before a combination of sword blows, arrows, axes and spiritual weapon strikes caused it to break off and fly away, warning them to stay out of the marsh, if they valued their lives…
The next day, ignoring the threat by the dragon, we ventured into the swamp. We brought Freya with us but left Elgan behind. The journey took two days, separated by a night in a Rope Trick. I went ahead to find a safe route. It slowed me down, but the others were faster with my guidance.
The mist made travel difficult. We could not use many landmarks, and those that did exist were simply humps above the waterline.
Eventually however, we reached the Twisted Branch lair. We were spotted by guards, who asked what our business was. Obviously they must have already had our descriptions, as I am sure they would normally have had shot on sight. Thankfully, Freya could talk to them. The mage discussed our goal with them, and some guards went inside while they talked.
After several minutes, she told us that they had agreed to let her in, but she had no intention of going alone. Thankfully, she had persuaded them to let the whole group in as her servitors and henchmen. She said they also knew how many of us there were, confirming my original thoughts that they knew of our impending arrival.
Alun cast a spell that allowed him to comprehend the languages that Freya spoke, so he could participate in future conversations. We were led through passages made of entwined mangaroo roots and packed earth, and through several sleeping chambers. We spotted an area of vegetation differing from the norm, near the entrance, but I did not have opportunity to examine it.
Eventually, we stopped to speak to what was apparently a sub chief, who was dressed in beetle skin armour. His talk was useless however, while the sounds of activity took place nearby…
After that, we were shown to the chief, a large warrior, with darker scales and vestigial horns, who sat on a wood and bone throne, with a blood-stained patch of earth on the chambers floor in front of him. Two advisors stood on either side, both appeared to be female, and they were dressed in ornate, feathered head-dresses. I spotted one of them as being present at the siege.
A crowd of lizardfolk followed us in, to watch the proceedings. I began to worry.
Mal scanned everyone he passed, and told us that the majority of the tribe and the shaman we saw from the siege seemed ambivalent towards us, but that the horned chief, the sub-chief and the new shaman radiated evil intentions.
A short conversation then took place between our group and theirs, none of which I understood, but I gathered Freya and Alun were asking for the return of Marzena, to be tried by her own people.
The chief played to the audience, banging his chest and shouting slogans which made the tribe shuffle from foot to foot, repeating them back to him.
The two female lizardfolk became very agitated with each other, and appeared to be fighting for the ear of the chief.
Malakai then asked Freya to direct her request solely to the ‘friendly’ shaman, and as he spoke of friendship and diplomacy, he knelt down, placing his sword on the ground.
His words were heartfelt, and the shaman replied, in Sylvan, which Freya, and therefore Alun, conveniently understood.
The rest of the conversation I was told about later, so my recollection here is not verbatim. I have also included information learned some time after this exchange, for brevity. The friendly druid, who I found out was called Hishka, seemed pleased to find a Sylvan speaker, and explained she was the only one of the leaders who spoke that language.
She told us that Shukak intended to kill us all, no matter what we said, since he wanted to show his superiority over the humans, and backing down from the attacks would cause him to lose face.
Shukak was an outsider, who had killed her old chief, and taken over the tribe. If he were gone, the tribe could return to normal. At this point I was looking at their reptilian expressions and could see where this was heading. The fact we were in their stronghold was not comforting in the slightest, but I let it play out.
Shukak and the hostile druid grew angry at this conversation, and ordered Hishka to translate. She made up some lie about how the humans wanted to move out of the keep, but take their belongings with them, which they did not believe.
The chief then raised his weapon and attacked us. No-one was surprised at this.
Anticipating the leader’s response, Freya webbed the rear entrance, which stopped a dozen lizardfolk and the sub chief running in. Meanwhile, the hostile druid cast a spell on Shukak, as he sliced deeply into Malakai.
After this, lizard guards ran forward and engaged us in combat. General mayhem ensued, and although they were more plentiful, they were outclassed from the start, and were generally ineffective at attacking the Knights.
Hishka then ran from the chamber, shouting in Draconic that she was getting help, but adding in Sylvan “Kill those three”, referring to the leaders in the room, “and we can talk”.
I did not need informing that those would be the main menace, but appreciated the direction anyway.
The guards found it hard to hit my more armoured compatriots, so resorted to aiding, flanking, or attacking myself and Freya. Noting this trend, Freya turned invisible, and ran off to the side of the chamber.
I attempted to tumble in to flank Shukak, but slipped as I moved in, and opened myself up to a vicious strike. Shukak plunged his sword into my side with inhuman strength and I almost collapsed in pain, blood pouring from the near-mortal wound. I ran back to side of chamber, to heal.
The battle became deadlocked. Mal and Shukak fought in the middle, while the elite guards tried to take down our paladin. Alun was also a target, as he was alongside the Storm Knight, casting supportive magic on him.
Meanwhile Tegan was at the rear of the chamber, fighting any lizardfolk who tried to force through the web. I was ensuring my allies were unhindered by the other lizardfolk in the room, while trying to keep Freya safe. That was if I could find her.
Just then, Freya was discovered as warriors ran into her, so she moved over to me, and started using scorching rays, and her magic missile wand.
This part of the battle is hard to put down, as it was so chaotic, but I recall that Alun, Tegan and I focussed on the normal lizardfolk, to reduce the press of bodies around our paladin and the distraction they would cause. Mal continued to attack Shukak, and was being hit time and again by him. The angry druid continued to magically enhance and heal Shukak from behind.
Our Stone Knight was taking out a lot of lizardfolk with relentless blows to all around her, as they tried to force their way through the web. Eventually however, some survived her axe, and started to surround her. Then the sub chief came in, wearing heavy bone armour and wielding a vicious halberd.
Mal and Shukak continued to slice each other and heal themselves, while our Shield Knight healed Mal and attacked the occasional lizardfolk who dared to come near him.
Reinforcements for the chief then arrived, in the shape of two more guards with black scales and forward-curving horns, like their leader. I and Freya moved to intercept them. However, these proved to be far superior to any of the other guards so far, and scored some wounds on both of us, while trying to force their way round to Shukak.
It was entirely possible they were too late to arrive at that point, as just then, Malakai landed a heavy blow against Shukak, and the lizard chief dropped to the floor. Immediately afterwards, the paladin moved forward to take on the other draconic guards. A little too soon perhaps, I thought afterwards, but seeing how hard-pressed we all were, I was just happy the leader was down. Later events would make me remember that earlier thought. Meanwhile Tegan beat the sub chief, but not before being badly wounded by that halberd.
As I feinted and parried with the draconic lizard guard facing me, I took a quick glance around at our situation. Most of the normal warriors had been beaten; the chamber had gone from being packed, to now being less than a third full.
The fight continued with more lizardfolk defeats, including one of the draconic guards.
But not the one facing me, alas. Tegan retreated from the rear entrance to heal up, as she was now badly wounded by the continuous assault upon her at the entrance. Shukak appeared to have had the same idea previous to this, as he now stood up behind a shield of his warriors, who had stepped over him to pursue Mal. ‘It’s on again!’ I thought.
Mal tried to fight his way back toward Shukak, but was blocked by his troops. They then moved aside to engage the party, and Shukak stepped into the gap, directly in front of Tegan. She was still in the process of healing herself, and was caught off guard. He snarled at our Stone Knight, and launched a series of attacks at her. Two blows drew blood from her arm and torso, but the third went straight through her neck, nearly cutting her head off. We all paused, shocked for a moment as the chief roared his kill. Tegan, the Stone Knight of the Cairn Hills, slumped against the floor of the chamber, dead.
We had no time to mourn her passing. The lizardfolk were bolstered by their leader’s victory, and attacked us with renewed vigour. The victory of Shukak was short-lived though, as Mal stepped up and stabbed him in the chest. Blood poured from his reptilian mouth as he too collapsed to the floor. I managed to dispatch the draconic guard against me, and Alun killed more warriors. As he did so, Freya spotted the druidess responsible for healing Shukak, and killed her with a magic missile, I was incredulous she had lasted this long, but it made sense for her to hide whilst bolstering Shukak. Despite being sorely fatigued and drained by the loss of our compatriot, we had turned the tide on the lizardfolk, and they started fleeing. Unfortunately, this was not the end of the conflict.
A snorting and wheezing noise was heard from the back passage, and the tribe pushed what looked like a moving pile of slurry and filth into our sight. It had a large mouth at the centre of its rounded body, and three long eyestalks protruding from the top. It moved in on three stumpy legs and had two tentacles reaching out ahead of it. I was overcome as it approached by the stench from its covering of dung. An otyugh was being herded into the chamber…
Again, my recollection of that part of the fight was less than complete, but I remember recovering from the smell, and finding out I was held tight in the otyugh's grasp, as it squeezed the life out of me. Alun walloped it with a spiritual mace. Freya missed with an arrow. Malakai came in, smacked the creature with his sword but got grabbed himself, while he used his healing. I struggled and twisted, trying to escape, but the creature held me fast still.
I was being dragged towards its mouth, but I managed to grab hold of a twisted mangaroo root from the chamber’s roof and held on grimly. Alun hit it again with the floating, ghostly mace, and healed me with his wand. Malakai, now held in a similar fashion to myself, was squeezed tightly by the monster. Freya had another wild shot with her bow, now trying to avoid both me and Malakai. Our Storm Knight hit with his sword again, despite being hampered by being grappled. He healed himself again, whilst struggling in vain to remove the otyugh’s grip. I did likewise, with similarly unsuccessful results.
The otyugh wrapped its tentacle completely around my waist and immobilised me. As it did so, Alun healed me while his summoned mace dissipated. The others made a concerted attack then, and finally a magic missile from our mage dropped the thing.
As the others dealt with the recovered treasure from the battle, I ran after the druidic lizard.
I found her and some of the remaining lizardmen holding Marzena and some Blackwall Keep guards as hostages. As the others caught up with me we started negotiating once more.
The druidess, Hishka, was happy about the chieftain being killed, but told us she could not lose face with the other tribe people by treating us as her allies, at least not immediately after the deaths of some of their folk.
She then told us of the events surrounding the recent siege of the keep. Ilthane, a black dragon, was sponsoring the halfdragon lizardfolk we had previously fought. Shukak was one of them and came as a visitor to the tribe. He muscled his way into power with the threat of invasion by the 'free city folk' and a promise that he could save them. That was when the siege was decided upon.
We found out that there were other halfdragons still in this place. Ilthane was keeping the remaining eggs of the lizard people 'safe', buried down below. The halfdragons were with them, ostensibly to guard them against any poisonous attack – but from what source? I was suspicious, as was Hishka.
We hatched a plan to save them. Marzena was now allowed to speak. She asked in slurred words if we were with Allustan. She wanted to give him a message about what happened here. She then spoke to the lizardfolk, describing to them that we were here to save them from the evils of Shukak. A debate about who has authority over the tribe began. I did not pretend to know all the subtleties of the conversation because of the language barrier, but the end result was good. We could leave with the prisoners, but we had to rescue the eggs of the tribe first.
Meanwhile, Marzena asked that we send a message to Allustan. “Whatever the outcome here, Allustan needs to swallow his pride and act” she said. Someone called Manzorian needed his aid, apparently.
We got going. Hishka told us how to disable the traps to get to the eggs and we ventured into a watery, smelly tunnel. At the other end of this tunnel the floor rose and it became dry. Malakai in the lead, we moved in. Coming up out of the water we spotted a small kobold-like creature ahead. I surged forwards past it, avoiding a wild swing as I did so, and then riposted, poorly. Two more creatures came up then, and one tried to hit me, along with the first one I moved past. They both must have been surprised by my speed though, as their swings were wildly inaccurate.
Malakai charged in then, and soundly struck the one beyond me. Then we saw a small dragon bearing down on us. It looked a lot like the one seen on the battlements, I was told later, but my main concern was the stream of acid coming right at all of us. Alun took the blast in the chest, but the rest of us managed to avoid most of the acid.
We saw two half-dragons come up out of a pool of water at the far end of the dry tunnel. They advanced towards us, but did not engage.
I tried to capitalise on the blow dealt by Malakai on one of the scaly creatures in front of me, but failed to strike true. Damn scaly hide! Alun walloped the one behind me, and it dropped. The one in front of me that had yet to make an attack then swiped ineffectually at me and then ran. I cut it down as it fled. Then we found out why the half-dragons were not engaging us in close combat.
One of the half-dragons at the end of the tunnel opened its mouth and breathed acid at us, Freya was out of range, but Alun was hit by a torrent of acid, while Mal and I were splashed with the caustic stuff. Then the other half-dragon moved up and spewed acid. This time Malakai took the brunt, while Alun was outside the arc of acid sprayed at us. Myself and Freya took more substantial acid burns this time, as our clothes were starting to be dissolved off our bodies. Nonetheless, Freya moved up and shot at a half-dragon, but the shot was wild. Malakai, furious now, charged and smacked one solidly.
As he did so, the true dragon moved back beyond his half-dragon and kobold kin and shouted in draconic "Protect the king egg!"
I then moved up and hit out at the half-dragon Malakai had attacked, but my blow couldn't penetrate the halfdragon’s armour. Alun then channelled positive energy and healed us all. The dragon moved further back as more kobolds moved up to face us. One of the little scaly buggers cast a magic missile against Malakai, and the halfdragons followed up with one attacking me and another turning on Malakai. I avoided the wicked looking scimitar, claws and bite of the creature facing me, but Malakai was bitten. He retorted with a shout and another solid blow against it, whilst Freya followed up with a magic missile. It snarled and carried on the assault.
I moved around quickly and then back in behind them to strike. I avoided their clumsy swings as I ran, but they defended themselves well, and I failed to hit them. Alun then moved up and healed Mal. The kobold spellcaster, obviously some sort of shaman, launched another magic missile at the Storm Knight, and I reckoned that Mal must think he was at the centre of a storm at that point! The halfdragons attacked us again, but this time only I got bitten. Freya launched another volley of magic missiles at the wounded halfdragon, and then Malakai stabbed it in the guts, which killed it.
I moved around again, trying to dodge the halfdragon’s attacks, but he slashed me across the waist as I moved around. Despite this I moved back in and stabbed it, but my blow didn’t drop the half-dragon. Alun then moved over and healed me. The shaman launched another magic missile at Mal. The halfdragon lashed out at me in desperation, obviously badly wounded by my last attack. His attack was unexpected, and he drew blood. After this he moved away from me, to get to safety. Freya saw his situation, and a magic missile streaked over my head, dropping it instantly.
Ahead, the kobolds were carrying the egg slowly away from us, across the pool at the far end of the tunnel. When they saw the last of the halfdragons fall, they became very frightened and dropped it. They then ran to the far side, with the dragon shouting at them to stop. Mal moved up to the dragon then, and steadied himself in the waist high water, about to strike at it. Meanwhile, I waited while Alun healed me, then I moved in at speed. My charge caught it by surprise, and I skewered it through the tail. It squealed and hissed at me, but did not back off. Freya, not bored yet with the pot shots, launched a magic missile at it. It responded with an attack on Mal, but our Storm Knight’s armour saved him. We then manoeuvred around to flank the creature, and Mal swung his heavy blade down against it as I made a quick stab between its wings. He missed with the longsword, the dragon more slippery in its movements than he anticipated. However, I was fully aware of its snake-like dexterity and I hit, solidly.
Freya flung yet another magic missile at the drake, while Alun healed Mal. It tried to flee, and Mal and I hit it as it went. It flew weakly away and dove into the water. It then swam faster than any of us could move in water, and we lost it.
Malakai then moved over to the egg it was defending. Somehow, I knew that nothing good was going to happen here, and I hung back as Mal cleaved the egg with his sword, splitting it wide open. I found out then I was right. From the egg a mass of worms erupted, all over our Storm Knight and in the water around him. They writhed and swam about as we looked on in horror.
Malakai became covered with the worm-like things, and they started to burrow beneath his armour. More were in the pool, and this group started spreading out under water. Alun paused, unable to think of a stratagem, but I quickly shouted “Move back! I've got a fireball!” as I realised what I must do. He moved back then, and I flung my one remaining globe from my necklace of missiles at Mal. The wumph of the fireball echoed in my ears as the worms died, but Mal shouted that some still remained, along with others below the waterline in the pool the egg was sitting in.
After this, we desperately thought of what to do. Malakai got out some oil and covered himself in it. At that moment, eggs started hatching from below the water, and foetal, worm-infected lizardmen emerged from three of them, hissing at us. They attacked Mal, but his armour protected him and he was not hurt.
I made a shot on the run at one of the foetal worm-things, and my arrow pierced its throat. As it collapsed, an explosion of worms poured out of the wound, and they joined the others under the water. Freya threw a magic missile at another worm-lizard, and it squealed in pain as the bolt hit it. It collapsed too, but worms did not come out of its body so profusely this time
Malakai moved to a better position, and struck at another lizard-wyrm, killing it. Unfortunately, three more then hatched to take the place of the original three. Alun moved up with a torch to be nearer the Storm Knight, and waited for the right moment.
These new lizards attacked Mal, and one managed to scratch him with its bite. Poisonous saliva entered the wound into the paladin’s body, but he carried on regardless. The worms in the water started moving towards us.
Malakai healed himself with a quickly essayed prayer, then smacked down a lizard, missed another and stepped back to Alun. Our Shield Knight promptly torches Malakai, killing more wyrms, while singeing the paladin.
Just then, a gang of wyrmlings burst free from their eggs, their lizardman forms foetal in shape and worm-ridden. Alun and Malakai were surrounded.
Malakai was starting to glow now though, with a blue-white light. The glow became stronger and stronger, and Malakai lifted his head and opened his mouth in a silent scream. Worms then emerged from his orifices - tear ducts, nostrils, mouth and ears all had worms coming out of them, curling and writhing as if on fire. In a moment they were all gone, and Malakai stopped glowing. Our paladin was well protected from this type of contagion.
What followed then was a protracted battle, with more and more worms infecting the eggs of the lizardfolk and rising as these corrupted things, and even though we were cutting them down easily, they would eventually have swamped us through sheer numbers. I wished that Tegan were here.
Malakai called upon the power of Heironeous and channelled divine energy against these things. His emanation of holy energy hurt all of them, and they were momentarily cowed.
Alun then followed this up with a Channel of his own, calling upon St Cuthbert to smite his foes. This was potent, and all but one of the lizardworms was destroyed by divine energy.
This was but a momentary reprieve however, as more eggs burst, and lizardworms came out to renew their assault.
Just then, Hishka and a group of lizardfolk, all carrying woven baskets, came up and saw what was going on. I heard Freya talk to them with some babbling explanation or something. I shot at but missed one lizardworm that was closer than the others.
Malakai then noticed the lizardfolk, and decided to retreat. Alun did the same, and healed the paladin as they moved back to be level with me. Then the wormy things all moved in, and surrounded me, Alun and Malakai.
I was surrounded, but tried to attack one of the wormlings next to me. I flailed wildly and missed however. The lizardfolk were next to act, and with a cry of "Save the eggs from the worms! It's happening again!" from Hishka, they dove into the wormy water.
Even more lizardworms hatched then, and moved to attack the lizardfolk. In turn they were alarmed, but about the worms this time. "This isn't right; they're getting through our skin. This didn't happen last time." they shouted in draconic. Hishka then cast a spell to produce flame, but the thrown ball of flame missed her lizardworm target. "Get what you can!" she shouted to the other lizardfolk, and they continued to collect eggs.
I considered their words - there was more going on here than met the eye. I noted the comments about their skin - scaly hide stopped the worms 'last time' then did it?
I slew the lizardworm next to me, and moved back to guard Freya, as Knights Storm and Shield prepared to channel once more.
Hishka then cast a spell from a scroll, and the roots of the trees that made up this nest began to warp and bend, creating a wall between the lizardfolk and the lizardworms. They continued to collect the eggs, while Malakai and Alundar channelled energy to kill the massed wormy lizards beyond the wall of wood. Some survived, but were unable to get through the wall.
We all then pitched in to save more eggs. I found two chests, one above water, one below. Both radiated magic. We finally got the rest of the eggs to safety.
We talked to the lizardfolk druid, who confirmed that we had done what she asked of us. She also confirmed that other clutches of eggs had been infected since Shukak took control. We then rested, using rope trick to keep safe while we did so. Meanwhile the lizardfolk prepared to leave, fearful of Ilthane's return. As they went, Hishka presented us with a scroll, which detailed a pact of agreement and non-aggression with humans, asking that we get this signed by the leaders of our land. I wondered who the right person was, but the start would be the Diamond Lake garrison. I could not wait to return.
Taking our cue from the lizardfolk exit, I guided our band back to Blackwall Keep, to see if the residents were still alive, and not being attacked by Ilthane. We carried the body of our fallen Stone Knight with us. When we arrived, the soldiers stationed there were not under siege, but it was obvious to me that they needed to come away from this place. The threat from the lizardfolk was no more, at least temporarily, and they were in no shape to continue guarding that keep from a dragon. All of us then returned to Diamond Lake, leaving Blackwall Keep behind.
Back at Diamond Lake, we learned that Kullen was now running the Dourstone Mines, having 'come into money'. I suspected Smenk, but there was nothing to be done – the other Knights had ignored my advice when making that deal with him. We headed over to the garrison, and told them about the goings on at the keep. I stated that we had left it as being indefensible against a sustained assault or dragon strike. The commander, Tolliver Trask agreed with my conclusions.