If you are reading this, I am either dead in the line of duty and this tome has fallen into your possession - in which case I plead with you to seek out my companions if they still live and complete the task we have devoted ourselves to - or I have completed my mission and this completed work is now available for perusal among the other such various tomes in our library.
In either case, what follows is not a tale for the faint of heart.
My name is Darktower Zhaorae. I am an Illumian, the Living Word Made Flesh. The closest thing I have to a family is my cabal, who dwell in the Darktower Crucible on the Astral Plane, preparing warriors for the nigh-endless battles against the Gith who centuries ago ransacked our cities and destroyed many of our greatest treasures. I am a knight, a Crusader, and would seek to become a Paladin should the Ruby Goddess find it in her favor.
The future ahead of me - of constant warfare and vengeance - is not for the tame of heart or mind. Thus, after our basic training was completed, my companions (or siblings, I could call them) and I were transported to the Material Plane. Our last word from our superiors was the command to travel the world, experience and grow and strengthen ourselves; once we had gained the power to return to the Crucible of our own skill we would have proved our readiness to join the cabal at war.
The location on the Material where we found ourselves deposited was a few miles from a small village known as Diamond Lake. With only our basic supplies and a few gold worth between the three of us, we resolved to put ourselves to work as work could be found in this little hamlet until enough wealth could be amassed for us to move beyond its borders and survive the journey.
We underestimated the power of this village to entangle those who would dwell within its borders. Work was scarce and money scarcer, and so far we've only been able to make enough to survive. We had laid claim to a small abandoned building with a collapsed upper story shortly after our arrival, and been troubled little by the locals even after they grew used to our presence, likely due to us being able to easily disguise ourselves as Humans.
In the weeks since, we have been searching earnestly for a means by which to wrestle free of this place's relentless grasp, and now we think we may have found it. One of my siblings has heard of an abandoned mine referred to as the Whispering Cairn, and that strange things have been known to occur there; though the tunnels in this place for the most part have long gone dry, something of this rumor seems to have struck a chord in all of us, and for the time being we have placed our hopes upon its words.
Knowing the three of us would stand little chance against any active dangers that may reside within the cairn, we have sought out aid from some of the locals who might be trustworthy. I met a vagrant priest with no particular devotion to any one power, searching for substance for his faith while also trying to work his way out of this trap, at one of the local shrines; while the young Halfling has little physical combat skill his healing capabilities will serve to aid us well.
One of my companions has also acquired the partnership of another traveler, of who I know little other than his purpose here involves gambling debts owed to one of my siblings. I do not see this ending well.
The two newcomers, my two siblings and myself have arranged to meet at our shelter in shortly under a week to begin our plans for investigation of the cairn and the beginnings of our escape from wretched Diamond Lake.
Lest it go unrecorded, I have taken it upon myself to include the specifics of our small family. The Darktower Cabal is one of the few vengeance cabals that our people have. Were it not for a series of questionable circumstances--none of which are my fault, I assure you--we would likely never have been grouped together. There are many trainees and apprentices within the cabal, and I am considerably younger than my counterparts.
Our lives were ones of order, schedules, [partially scratched out is the word boredom] and constant training. A typical day for my younger self would begin with meditation amongst the elders on the nature of our people, followed by working among the few historical tomes we had retrieved from the Gith. I would then proceed to my magical training, and among other mage apprentices learn the basics of the craft. After this training, I would be allowed a small time for lunch. While I enjoyed the chance to socialize with my peers, they often avoided me. (This is, by the way, entirely due to their misconception about some harmless youthful incidents that may or may not have resulted in lowered self-esteem and increased bitterness among them.) written in Zhaorae's hand: The term you are looking for is "prank," Ashlea. The afternoon was spent training amongst the swordsmen of our cabal, being drilled in the art of combat. Those of us who lacked natural martial ability were drilled twice as hard. Failure to learn a technique was due to lack of study and application. Lack of ability was never a proper excuse. Evenings were times meant for contemplation of what we learned through the day.
The life of the vengeance cabal is a demanding one, as you can tell. Sadly, this life left little room for the expression of natural curiosity and creativity that I possessed in abundance as a youth. I do not recall what my motivation was, but one morning I decided to practice my arcane casting in a more practical manner than the mage quarter. written in Zhaorae's hand: In common, she decided to bother the martial students. I successfully managed to sneak into the section where the martial students were practicing certain maneuvers on practice dummies. I decided to see if I could hold my concentration well enough amongst the simulated combat to cast Ray of Frost on one of the dummies--the stuffed kind, mind you. While I successfully managed to cast the spell, in my youthful excitement I missed my intended target. Instead, I accidentally hit the blade of one of the martial trainees--Zhaorae. I almost escaped in the ensuing confusion, had not another mage--a warmage--been present that day at the training grounds. I was forced to make amends by practicing casting while Zhaorae attempted (successfully) to thwack me with practice weapons. I was then apprenticed to the warmage, after showing my aptitude for the more chaotic style of arcane casting that he practiced.
We met for the first time shortly after nightfall at the abandoned building that had for the time being become our home. Ashlea and I remained behind while Vashrellehn traveled to fetch our prospective companions and invite them to our base to discuss our plans for the night. When they arrived, it was obvious that things would not be going as intended, at least in whole. The halfling priest, Evan, was fairly typical: he wore the symbol of Sarenrae, a goddess of whom I knew little at the time, and seemed averse to the standard bickering and teasing that goes on between siblings. The other, Garand - a towering human-like figure with some sort of strange scaled spines on his arms and back - arrived so drunk he could barely stand, attempted far-too-forward interactions for a first meeting, and almost emptied his stomach twice.
Nevertheless, we were able to arrange an agreement with them: they would accompany us to investigate the Whispering Cairn, one of the abandoned mines in Diamond Lake to which Vashrellehn had discovered a map, and offer their capabilities and skills in exchange for a fair portion of the profits from the excursion, to be used as they saw fit. Evan expressed intent to devote the majority of his profits to the work of the church his fellows were attempting with little success to found in Diamond Lake, and Garand - if I understood his slur correctly - planned to simply waste his away on further alcohol.
After a few more minor stumbles, we eventually found our way to the cairn and with little trouble discovered the entrance hidden behind overgrowth. We explored inside and at first found little out of the ordinary: a long-abandoned bedroll with the remains of scraps from whittling, a broken and shattered mirror frame inscribed with some sort of arcane sigil that Ashlea identified with an ancient dialect of Auran, a collapsed tunnel.
Investigation further in, however, discovered a lair of wolves which eagerly pounced onto Vashrellehn and nearly tore him apart. Thankfully his wounds were swiftly tended by Evan and myself and two of the three beasts were dispatched moments later; the third, wounded and frightened, fled the cairn. Vashrellehn investigated their den and discovered an ornate indigo lantern and a bracer decorated with ornate elven designs.
On the other side of the corridor from their den was a raised dais that appeared shrouded in darkness; while the rest of us studied Vashrellehn's finds or patched our wounds from the skirmish with the wolves Ashlea decided to investigate the mural on the walls around the dais, and found decorative drawings of several hallways, each containing a lit lantern of a different color dangling from a chain suspended from the ceiling. Her investigation quickly turned to amusement as she hid herself in the darkened corridor, partially out of sight; knowing her taste for jokes and pranks Vashrellehn and I elected not to attempt to pursue her and our two newfound companions decided to follow our lead... or simply did not care, I cannot truly say which.
Vashrellehn determined that the next corridor, one blocked off by years' worth of cobwebs, was the source of a strange flickering green light he had seen earlier as we first entered; I had not caught sight of it but his perceptions have always been better than my own. He instructed Ashlea to burn the webs and venture down into the following corridor, and the rest of us followed suit closely after. The new tunnel emerged into a large room with seven side passages, each ending in a length of chain suspended from the ceiling holding a colored lamp, mirroring the mural from the room before... save the first chamber, the red, and the second-to-last, the indigo, both of which were missing their lanterns. Only the green lantern was lit. In the center of the room was a large sarcophagus with an arrow-shaped base currently pointing at the orange chamber, decorated with a statue with a single missing finger.
Investigation of the room discerned that most (if not all) of the corridors had circular carvings but nothing could be gleaned from them. The statue on the sarcophagus was adorned with another unfamiliar arcane glyph; like the first, Ashlea eagerly created a copy while the rest of us investigated the room. After several dead ends, Ashlea and Evan went back to the wolves' den to search for more hidden wealth - since the indigo lantern had been found there, perhaps the red was also buried in their remains? The halfling returned not with another lantern, but rather what appeared to be the severed stone finger of the statue. Attempts by Vashrellehn and myself to reattatch it without the aid of magic or appropriate adhesive proved unsuccessful, however.
It was suggested then to attempt opening the sarcophagus; though I found the idea of disturbing the place of the dead dubious at first, investigations elsewhere had repeatedly proved fruitless and at least with my direct observation I could assure that the body within, if any lay within at all, would be properly respected. Fortunately, no corpse remained within, nor any undead creature lurking in wait; unfortunately, the coffin was designed to be a deterrent to graverobbers and was lined with a fire trap. Though I managed to avoid being badly wounded, I was nevertheless given due ribbing by Vashrellehn for not letting him do his duty and avoid such troublesome occurrances. The chamber within was, predictably enough, empty.
We next considered rotating the casket, when Vashrellehn discovered marks on the ground that suggested such had been done before. Garand and I turned the sarcophagus so that the arrow-shaped base pointed towards the yellow corridor; in respone a cylindrical chamber - not unlike an upright grave - rose from the ground beneath the lamp. When we turned the coffin again, it sank and another rose in the green corridor. However, when Vashrellehn approached to investigate this one, the ground about it began to shake and moments later collapsed, dropping the chamber into the corridors below.
Moments later swarms of insects burst from the newly-formed hole, followed by an aberration known a Mad Slasher; Vashrellehn retreated behind the rest of the group for defense while Ashlea, Garand, and I moved to stand before the incoming beasts. Ashlea destroyed the swarming beetles in a single blast of flame, while the rest of us surrounded the Slasher and crushed it before it could take advantage of our grouped position and use its rotating attack against us.
Once the Slasher was destroyed and the swarming insects scattered, we determined that the open hole would be the swiftest and most sure way to enter and exit the level below. With Garand in the lead we descended by rope and hook into the lower level.
Continuing our investigations into the depths of the Cairn, the chamber below what we came to refer to as the "Green Corridor" divided into three separate halls each leading to yet deeper chambers. The first of these we investigated was overcome by some manner of orange slime; this was quickly determined to be some manner of insect nest, as shortly after our arrival yet another swarm issued forth from its depths, accompanied by a much larger hive queen of some kind. These were swiftly dispatched though not without some minor injuries, which Evan and I swiftly mended.
Lodged in the nests were the dessicated bodies of three Seekers, archaeologists long ago come to this place to study its secrets; Vashrellehn pilfered their belongings and distributed what remained useful after the passing of time among the group while I performed last rites over the dead. Investigation of the next room across the corridor revealed yet another body anda statue or carving that Vashrellehn suspected of being a construct. We considered leaving the area uninvestigated, but Ashlea refused and decided to attempt to destroy the statue with acid. She was able to damage it without much difficulty, though the harm done was relatively minor; however, any time one spent more than a few moments inside the small sanctuary they became temporarily overwhelmed with weariness until they exited the chamber. I retrieved the body, though the head became dislodged and had to be retrieved on a second trip, and performed last rites for it as well before moving on.
The third room was flooded up to the stairs at its entrance; Vashrellehn removed his armor and swam out to investigate, but returned only a few moments later muttering about the appearance of an elemental. We decided at this turn to return to the lantern chamber and resume our investigations there.
Upon returning Garand and I resumed rotating the sarcophagus at the room's center; however, upon reaching the Purple Corridor we could turn it no further, and repeated attempts had already proven that the coffin would only rotate clockwise. A few moments after we gave up on the final attempt, though, a ghost - an actual ghost! - materialized at the chamber's entrance and reached into the floor at the sarcophagus's base to trigger some sort of switch hidden below or within the floor. This caused the sarcophagus to rotate back to its starting position, pointing at the Red Corridor. We returned it to pointing at the Yellow Corridor, causing the column there to rise again. Ashlea decided to enter the column first; once she was inside it closed, sank into the ground, and returned a few moments later empty.
After ferrying our entire group down this way, we found ourselves in a small chamber with the only exit blocked by a large stone. Garand, myself, and Ashlea (using a spell to enhance her strength) managed to move the block, but doing so released a burst of toxic gas that sapped the strength of all but Evan and myself who managed to resist breathing the fumes. Garand was able to stave off the brunt of the poison on his own, and Evan's ministrations were able to keep Vashrellehn from succumbing, but Ashlea's more fragile constitution could not resist even with the priest's aid and once the spell faded she required resorting to me carrying her supplies in order to simply keep pace with the group's travel.
Investigation beyond led into a statue-lined corridor; hiding behind one statue was an aberration known as a Lurking Strangler, which attempted to put Garand and Evan to sleep to feed off them but failed, and was dispatched by myself in a single blow. Beyond was yet another chamber with multiple exits, one of which was overcome by a thick brown fungus; the other was blocked by a long-triggered trap which Vashrellehn was able to remove, revealing the dessicated remains of yet another Seeker slain by the deadliness of this place long ago. Though little remained of him, many of his belongings were still in good shape; Vashrellehn claimed a pair of goggles he possessed, I acquired the chainmail he had worn, and Ashlea laid hold to a pouch of trinkets that had somehow managed to avoid being destroyed by the trap. Investigation of the second door revealed only a small privy, which Evan - much to the rest of our chagrin - chose to relieve himself in.
Once his business was completed, we turned our attentions to the fungus; after some deliberation and heated debate a torch was tossed onto the patch, which immediately was snuffed and the quick-growing mold rapidly doubled in size. The argument had sparked a rebellious streak in Ashlea, and rather than attack the problem directly using ice magic as suggested she chose instead to trim away at the mold piece by piece with acid. Eventually she tired of this distraction and switched to frost, which dispatched the mold in a matter of seconds. Frustrated, she exited the chamber and returned to the column to wait; I chose to follow and attempted to calm her temper while the others investigated the final room.
We returned upon hearing sounds of battle; apparently Garand and Vashrellehn had disturbed a stone creature they surmised might have been another elemental and it had attacked Garand before being destroyed. While Evan mended his wounds, Garand and I moved a statue which Vashrellehn had determined to be of quite some worth back to the column; the statue was also in possession of a staff of exceptional quality, which Vashrellehn also claimed.
The chambers beneath the Yellow Corridor fully explored, the only area that remains unsearched is the flooded portion of the area beneath the Green Corridor.
What Zhaorae's record has not recorded was what inspired my normally helpful attitude to turn to a less cooperative one. Nobody, least of all myself, likes being told to "finally be useful." The fact that said usefulness was applied to the use of a cantrip was even further degrading. Added to the fact that I was responsible for helping save his hide multiple times prior to the incident (as he ran for cover behind me), I had had enough.
What Zhaorae's record also does not state is that his attitude toward my contributions to the group encouraged further degrading comments regarding my helpfulness from the halfling.
I will not be ordered around, insulted, and taken for granted. I am the apprentice to our cabal's only warmage, who studied at length within human colleges to attain his level of success. I can do as much damage as any other mage, if not more. I can withstand the rigors of battle, and have dedicated countless hours toward the memorization and theory of magecraft. Unlike sorcerers (who rely on luck and inherent ability) or wizards (who carry around their spells in written form), I rely SOLELY on the spells I have memorized since the first days of my training. This is a feat that only a few mages can achieve. And I am one of them.
I will not be ignored.
We returned to the catacombs beneath the Green Corridor and made our way down to the flooded area. Vashrellehn and Ashlea both went into the water to investigate, but Ashlea and I tied a rope between ourselves to make up for her lesser swimming skill and so I could retrieve her in case something caused further trouble. As expected, the Water Elemental Vashrellehn had encountered earlier resurfaced and engaged, but the pair of them were able to vanquish it fairly swiftly and without further incident.
Vashrellehn then returned to the water to scout out the rest of the flooded area. From what he reported back, the flooded room was a large chamber with three side rooms. One of these was another privy, with a thoroughly and very strongly plugged drain that might possibly have been the cause of the flooding. The other two were side chambers lined with benches. In the first he investigated he found a bag with several trinkets inside and a short sword, likely left behind by yet another Seeker; unfortunately there was either no body or Vashrellehn did not attempt to retrieve it from its watery grave. The second side chamber, however, was inhabited by a feral ghoul, which pursued our scout back to the edge of the water where it was destroyed by Garand and I. It possessed a ring and a satchel filled with coin, which I handed over to Vashrellehn before performing last rites over the undead thing, assuring that it would not rise again.
We then returned to the puzzle chamber and turned our attentions to the Blue Corridor. We had already ascertained that entering the column there would lead one to a quite-lethal trap; however, the area above rose significantly higher than the other corridors, and we were able to use the column as a pedestal, allowing Vashrellehn to climb up into a chamber above. The rest of us used grappling hooks and ropes Vashrellehn set in place to follow.
The chamber led into a long corridor that had once been trapped, and the ground scarred by vicious knife- or clawmarks. At the far end of this was a wide room crossed by a narrow beam, the floor ten feet below filled with spherical debris; at the far end of the beam was what appeared to be another door. Vashrellehn crossed without incident, but could not ascertain a way to open the door and returned; thinking it might be magically keyed, Ashlea instead attempted to cross, but fell from the beam several times.
When she dropped into the debris below, it attracted the attention of some creature hidden in the rubble as well as an unusual presence which began mocking us from someplace unseen with disturbing childish laughter and ridicule. We were able to retrieve Ashlea once without further incident, but immediately she attempted to cross the beam again and fell once more; this time the thing in the rubble got significantly closer before we were able to pull her out.
Vashrellehn determined that the thing must be attracted to movement or living presence in the debris, so I decided to draw its attention by dropping into the rubble and waiting for it to come to me. Garand moved to the edge of the walk, to attack with his weapon from above as well. As I had guessed, the creature responded to my presence and emerged: a Grick, a tunneling carnivorous aberration armed with tentacles and protected by a thick carapace. We engaged the creature, Garand and I holding it at bay while Ashlea attacked with magic from above. The Grick attempted and successfully attacked her once, but I was able to finish it off before it could do her undo harm.
The disembodied voice then manifested as a spectral young man with a visibly-broken neck before vanishing literally into Vashrellehn's body. Though possessing him, he still spoke with his own voice from Vashrellehn's mouth. He identified himself as Alastor Land, and claimed he had haunted this place for quite some time since his death due to a curse on his spirit that could only be broken by being buried alongside the family he had abandoned; in exchange for alleviating him of this binding, he offered to open the doorway at the far end of the beam and give us access to the treasures hidden beyond. After this he released Vashrellehn from his control. Neither Evan nor I could detect any dishonesty from the spirit, and after extracting his bones from the rubble below and giving last rites to the other bodies I found there I agreed to his offer. Ashlea, on the other hand, became further frustrated by the spirit's delays and attempted to break into the vault beyond on her own; however after several repeated attempts she at last gave in and left the Cairn with the rest of us.
The hour had grown quite late, but the treasures we had recovered from the Cairn thus far had already provided greater wealth than we had earned in several months worth of local work. We returned to the safehouse and Evan offered to stay the night, to tend to Ashlea and attempt to aid her in getting over the strength-sapping poison she had been exposed to under the Yellow Corridor; as it seemed illogical to send him away while Evan would be staying I offered Garand a place to stay for the night, to which he agreed but not after he and Ashlea had gone to the local tavern for a drink. Thankfully the bars were closed and the two of them returned some time later.
Come morning, Evan's ministrations had come to an end and the halfling himself was sleeping in; after my normal morning preparations I decided it would be best to prepare some food before departing to the Land Estate to fulfill Alastor's request and see to his proper burial. Let it be known now that my culinary skills are less than stellar, and due to some rather unfortunate mishaps and ill-timed miscalculations in the past I have inspired some inexplicable horror from Ashlea and Vashrellehn regarding my capabilities in the kitchen; as soon as Ashlea discovered I was about to set to work she rather firmly ushered me out and set to preparing a late breakfast herself, much to Garand and Evan's amusement.
After the meal, we departed for the Land Estate, which was an hour's journey on the far side of Diamond Lake. Upon arriving, the only building on the property was long past abandoned and in terrible shape, but even more disturbing was the fact that the graves in the corner of the property had been recently unearthed and emptied. The graverobbers had loaded up the bodies on wheelbarrows (though, as Ashlea will be quite happy to point out, I was unable to perceive the signs of such at first, which I fully blame on the distraction of the defiled graves) and taken them away toward the village. According to Garand, five human-sized figures had dug up and carted off the bodies, but somewhere in their work they had attempted to enter the building, and only four had emerged.
After seeing to the proper burial and last rites of Alastor's bones, we turned to the ruined farmhouse and the investigation thereof; inside was the nest of an injured Owlbear, the likely cause of the missing fifth set of footprints. Garand pointed out that owlbear cubs could be trained and sold, and the adult had already expressed itself a danger to local travelers and would need to be slain anyway else any other vagrants who attempted to den in the ruined house - little different than what we were doing at the safehouse - might stumble into its claws; however Evan was struck and offended by the idea and refused to aid in the attempt.
Though I was badly wounded in the ensuing conflict, we were able to finish off the already-wounded beast and secure the cub unharmed; thankfully, despite his disagreement with our course of action Evan still adhered to his agreement to tend wounds suffered along our journey and magically restored the injuries. Searching the rest of the rubble unearthed a severed arm that we theorized belonged to the slain graverobber; Vashrellehn identified a tattoo on the arm as belonging to a local mine owner who had recently passed away. The man apparently had branded his miners like cattle in life, and the common accepted view of the man was so vile that his employees viewed their transference to a new mine owner as a great blessing in comparison.
Though our visit to the Land Property for the time being was completed, there was more that had yet to be done: Alastor's curse would not be broken until his bones rested alongside those of his family, and the graverobbers needed yet to be discovered and dealt with, and what they sought in the tombs and (unless it be simple treasure) why they sought it identified.
Let it be known now that my culinary skills are less than stellar, and due to some rather unfortunate mishaps and ill-timed miscalculations in the past I have inspired some inexplicable horror from Ashlea and Vashrellehn regarding my capabilities in the kitchen
The first time Zhaorae tried to cook was under supervision in the cabal's kitchen. As part of our preparation for our travels, the three of us were taught basic cooking skills. However, Zhaorae's skill has never manifested. With the first (and only) lesson, she managed to make the air within the kitchen so toxic that it had to be evacuated. With the aid of a few Gust of Wind spells, the room was eventually safe to inhabit again. It is still a mystery how she managed this feat, considering we were learning how to cure meat and prepare campfire toast.
The second time Zhaorae tried to cook was on our first morning after our arrival at Diamond Lake. She insisted on attempting to cook biscuits. Somehow Vashrellehn and I were poisoned by the food, despite a lack of any ingredient that could normally cause such. There had not been enough biscuits left for Zhaorae to eat, so she was spared her fate. We, however, suffered for several days under the most deplorable conditions. (The mortal body is a frail and fickle thing, succumbing to ills that are irritating at best.)
In the subsequent cooking attempts, the kitchen has been set on fire, the food turned green, and her most recent attempt was deemed inedible by even the vermin that normally congregate around the compost pile.
For our own safety, Vashrellehn and I have divided up the remaining mealtimes.
In our current situation, we had a rather simple order of priorities. The first was to relieve ourselves of excess burdens and exchange goods for wealth, and assess our assets; as Vashrellehn and Ashlea bartered and debated with the various merchants and other interested parties about Diamond Lake (including an elven gentleman of noble birth who seemed quite interested in a bauble we'd discovered in the Cairn) I took the chance to inquire of the midday crowd about the brand on the severed arm we'd found near the Owlbear's nest. According to the word about town, only five men in the area bore such a mark, and were all a tightly-bound band of friends; the leader of the group was said to be a man named Kullen, identified as an albino half-orc who bore his brand on the side of his forehead. His three remaining companions were two warriors and a man trained in the arcane. Rumor also claimed that at 8 PM sharp every night he and they could be found at the Feral Dog, a shady tavern of ill repute.
As Kullen was the most likely source of the information we needed, a meeting with him was our second priority. I devised a plan, separating our group into three parts: Ashlea and Garand would go into the bar first, mingle with the crowd, and try to get on Kullen's good side and extract information from him. Evan and I would stay separate and observe, only getting involved if things looked to turn violent. Vashrellehn would be able to move about unseen, providing a second observing angle as necessary. For the most part the plan worked out nicely, and we were all in the rather seedy tavern long before Kullen and his three remaining compatriots arrived.
What I underestimated was Kullen's companions' observation skills and Garand's penchant for alcohol. The reptilian man was quite intoxicated long before Kullen arrived, and though Ashlea was able to play off his drunkenness as part of her cover and engaged in a fair amount of conversation with the half-orc and his fellows, Garand provided no support whatsoever and would have been all but useless should things have come to blows. At the last, when Kullen began to become suspicious, Ashlea excused herself and ushered Garand from the tavern, but the half-orc and his two armored partners followed; on pure reflex I followed as well, and Evan close behind me, and as if waiting for a sign of our involvement the mage chose that moment to intervene, passing us on the stairs up to the Dog's ground floor and whispering something to Kullen, likely informing him of his suspicious regarding myself and Evan, and possibly Vashrellehn as well.
While Kullen pursued Garand and Ashlea outside the inn, the two armored men turned to the rest of us. They demanded to know who had employed us - though they paid Evan little mind, possibly thinking the halfling was not affiliated with us - and since both Vashrellehn and I had abandoned our prior employment in the city following our turn of fortune in the Cairn I could honestly respond that no one had. Before further questions, or threats, could be voiced Kullen and the mage returned and went back down to the lower level, and their two companions joined them soon after with no further inquiry.
When we returned to our safehouse, Ashlea - after venting her disgust at Garand's actions, unbenknownst to the man himself as he'd passed out on the floor shortly after returning - informed us of what she'd learned in her two conversations with Kullen. Apparently they had been instructed by Balabar Smenk, the mine lord who now held their employment, to provide aid for a certain person named Filge who had recently been moved into the abandoned observatory a few miles north of Diamond Lake. Apparently Filge had requested the bodies to be acquired from the Land Property, and Kullen and his companions had been doubly disgusted by the act they had performed and saddened by the death of their fifth friend. Kullen had strongly warned against Ashlea getting involved in any way with Filge, claiming the man was dangerous and likely mad.
The description Kullen gave of Filge combined with the need for excavated dead bodies suggested necromancy of the foul sort was involved, and thus our attention was turned to the observatory and this Filge person. Expecting either manner of undead, I advised Vashrellehn and Evan to acquire blunt weapons - maces being the best bet, and cheap and easy to acquire in the village - to deal with skeletons as compliment to their swords which would serve to deal with zombies; Vashrellehn had kept the staff we had found in the Cairn, so he would be fine for the time being. I could but pray that those would be the worst we would encounter; likely any more potent undead would have been beyond our capability to destroy at that time.
The next day we purchased a cart and two horses to pull it so that we would be able to transport the bodies back to the Land Property, and Ashlea also purchased a warhorse for her own use from the garrison. We then began the trek north to the observatory. Upon arriving Vashrellehn discovered a trio of skeletons guarding just inside the front door - two of which bore the bone-warping aberrations signifying the Red Death, which Evan claimed had been marked on the graves of three of Alastor's family members. We destroyed the skeletons and sprinkled them with holy water to prevent further meddling; however, time was pressing and last rites would need to wait until they were returned to their graves. Upon further investigation of the next few rooms several chambers were discovered bare of anything of worth.
The last chamber in the hall, however, led into a grand dining room with several zombies sitting about a large, food-strewn table. I put the creatures out of their misery; thankfully, whatever command or action was required to animate them to hostile was never triggered and they were sent to their rest quietly and mercifully. Like the skeletons, they would have to be given rites and buried once our task here was done.
We turned our investigations around the rest of the chamber, but the adjacent rooms were of little consequence. Traveling upstairs, however, revealed a lavishly-decorated bedroom, complete with an angelic statue bearing Filge's name and a creature that appeared to be some sort of inanimate mummy, holding a severed head on a silver platter. Ashlea and Vashrellehn investigated the rest of the room, finding a spellbook, several alchemical vials designed for some sort of odd apparatus with which we were not familiar, and a large rug in the middle of the floor that Ashlea identified as being the skinned hide of a Lammassu; this we collected to bury once our task here was finished, along with the unfortunate destroyed undead. We also found a letter addressed to Filge: it mentioned activity regarding a cult along with "green worms and unkillable zombies", and was signed simply "S". As Kullen had claimed Balabar Smenk had put them to the task of aiding Filge, it was more than obvious who the signature was intended to represent. My assumption for the time being was that the cult he mentioned would be the Cult of the Green Lady, the only such organization in Diamond Lake with which I was familiar, and I made a mental note to inquire of the church on the subject once our task here was complete.
I attempted to sprinkle holy water on the mummified thing and the severed head, hoping to detect and harm them if they were some sort of lurking undead and prevent them from becoming so if they were not, but when I attempted to handle the head it began shrieking and alerting the rest of the tower that intruders were present; in my surprise and haste I smashed the bottle of holy water over it to no effect, before Ashlea could explain that it was the effect of a spell and not some undead severed head creature serving as a guardian.
Vashrellehn headed up the stairs to scout, though Filge was no doubt aware of our presence we still felt some foreknowledge of the area above was necessary. He reported back that a wiry man in a tattered coat - likely Filge - and another skeleton were working on a dais in the middle of the room, with several mirrors around the room directing light from the opening in the ceiling above - where the telescope would once have been - towards the center platform. In the middle of this laboratory was a blue-skinned humanoid figure with its chest cut and pinned open. Four large glass cylinders ringed this platform, filled with some noxious fluid with hints of a humanoid figure floating within, likely yet more undead. We discussed our options swiftly, and came to a quick agreement that while being able to question Filge would be helpful, the letter and the presence of undead provided more than enough evidence to prove the man of misusing necromancy and profaning the area with the taint of undeath and to hold ourselves back in the upcoming battle would only risk our destruction at the hands of a man who was likely a dangerous arcanist and not to be underestmated, on top of being quite mad.
As if in answer to our hushed discussion and preparation to go on the attack, Filge's voice suddenly echoed down from above, shouting, "Arise, my beautiful monstrosity!" Our time for preparations had come to an end, and now only remained the assault.
Loving this! Keep it up please. Like the different viewpoint from Ashlea as well although would be interested to hear Garands version of events, assuming he was conscious and still retained the ability to write.
Glad you enjoy. At this point Rae isn't even sure Garand is CAPABLE of writing... I've directed the other players to this thread on occasion but for the most part with the exception of Vash they aren't big on doing journals, and Vash is exceptionally busy due to being deployed in Afghanistan.
Vashrellehn in the lead, we charged up the stairs to engage Filge and his abominations. As predicted, the four glass cylinders contained more undead, adding a quadrant of zombies to the skeleton defending the mad necromancer. Thankfully, Filge's instructions to the creatures were purely defensive, and they did not move to attack until we closed ranks with them; Ashlea was able to nearly destroy the skeleton from range with spells before Filge cast a spell on her that paralyzed her in place, preventing her from engaging further. We destroyed the rest of the undead, though the battle was quite long and the creatures far sturdier than the undead we'd encountered below; stripped of his defenders, Filge immediately surrendered.
We took him prisoner and interrogated him while Vashrellehn removed his equipment and personal belongings and Evan scoured the room. Filge claimed he had been called down from the Free City by Balabar Smenk to investigate goings-on in the Dourstone Mine. Apparently a group known as the Cult of the Ebon Triad - a heretic branch of the foul churches of Hextor, Vecna, and Erythnul preaching intent to merge their three patrons into a single "overgod" - had been active in the vicinity, and had spoken of an entity named Kyuss and the coming of "the Age of Worms", a devastating future calamity of which Filge only spoke in half-logical pseudo-explanations and riddles we could make little sense of. He claimed that the green worm Smenk had given him - which Evan had confiscated - was originally from a spawn of this Kyuss person or creature, and could cause a person to become undead within the span of a day simply by forcing itself inside their body.
I purified and buried the zombies and loaded the skeletons and Filge up into the cart, and we returned to the Land Estate; there as his final act we had Filge handle the burial of the bodies while I performed last rites. As for Filge, after some discussion on the subject we deemed him too dangerous to let free and deserving of justice for his crimes against magic and nature; I executed him afterward and Ashlea saw to the burning of his corpse. We then returned to our safehouse to recuperate and planned to return to the Whispering Cairn upon the morning. Garand, predictably, spent most of the night carousing in town, and returned some time late in the night or quite early in the morning, disturbing most of our sleep.
Morning came and we all went about our business save Garand, who slept until nearly noon and had to be forcefully woken as I would allow no longer than that to delay. Thankfully he was up and about quickly enough once provoked and we were swiftly on our way. By the time we reached the blockaded portion of the Cairn, it seemed Alastor had already passed on - the ghost was nowhere to be found and did not respond to our calls, but he had indeed kept his promise and the door at the far end of the beam was open.
The circular chamber beyond had several carved pictographs on the walls; Ashlea claimed these represented an ancient battle between the primeval forces of Order and Chaos. The center of the room was a wide-open chasm, but a central platform held up by four walkways crossed through the middle; however, two of the walkways were broken and we had to circle a large portion of the room to reach one that remained solid. When we did, a pair of elemental sentinels materialized and immediately attacked. Ashlea, the only one of our group who could speak or understand the Auran tongue, attempted to converse with them; however they refused to back down, and nearly decimated us before being destroyed. Thankfully our blades and magic remained strong and we managed to hold out until the pair were defeated.
Moving into the center platform revealed a column of air that lifted anyone who stood in it to a higher chamber, this a small room consisting of another sarcophagus and another decorative wall painting - this one detailing the death of a figure resembling the carved image on the various sarcophagi at the hands of a horned demonic creature controlling a ball of blackness, which Ashlea determined was a Sphere of Annihilation. When they approached, the face on the wall appeared to move and demanded its name be spoken; Ashlea was able to decipher the glyphs and give the appropriate answer. She and Garand then opened the sarcophagus, which contained a silver circlet claimed by Evan, a pair of black horns resembling those of the demonic creature, and a pewter box with symbols etched upon it that Ashlea determined were associated with an ancient planar entity known as the Queen of Chaos. She surmised that the box contained the device that created and/or controlled the Sphere, as pictured in the wall painting.
We returned to the safehouse to recuperate and to discuss what we would do next; Ashlea then opened the box and discovered the Talisman of the Sphere was indeed contained within, but several attempts to activate it failed - possibly for the better, though she was rather vague on what it actually did. For the time being, though, it takes a lower priority. Balabar Smenk and the Dourstone Mine both may bear investigating, as this cult, the undead-creating parasites, and these tales of the "Age of Worms" worry me greatly.
Filge, Alastor, and the Whispering Cairn dealt with, we found ourselves in a bit of a quandary. We knew that something was going on in the Dourstone Mine and that involved this Cult of the Ebon Triad and the Age of Worms. Balabar Smenk would likely be wary of and unfriendly toward us for the way we had dealt with Filge. And yet we had far too little information to act with appropriately.
After some debate, it was determined that the best course of action would be to inquire of the local sage in Diamond Lake, Aszimar Neff. We made our way to Aszimar's dwelling, one of the finer houses in the village, and inquired of the talking statue that manned the entrance if the sage was available for questions. The statue claimed that he was, but that each question would cost, which I agreed to pay willingly. The gates opened of their own accord at that point, and we were ushered through a lavish garden obviously constructed and maintained with the aid of the arcane. After passing through this beautiful entrance, we were shown to the manor's door and admitted.
Within Aszimar's home we were shown grand tapestries and great works of art as we passed through a seemingly-endless corridor before suddenly coming upon a turn that led to a single door. Within the room beyond was a high-backed chair, a pair of fine couches, and a table with a teaset waiting, and in the chair sat a red-robed gentleman with an elaborate beard: master Aszimar Neff himself. Perhaps as fitting a sage and information gatherer as he was, he was apparently familiar with our group through the aid of his "agents", and had been pursuing many of the same leads we had. He shared that he had much the same information on the Cult and the Dourstone Mine as we had, but he had a few leads we lacked. Firstly, he knew that a new elevator had been recently installed in the mine, which was rarely used and never so by the miners. And secondly, he had discovered that Smenk, despite his fierce rivalry with Dourstone, had apparently been supplying the dwarf with materials of an unknown sort, which were being taken down the elevator. Aszimar knew that somewhere in the mines the cult had found an abandoned temple, and presumed the elevator was the way they were accessing it.
I inquired if he knew anything more than Filge about the name "Kyuss", but the information he provided was no different than the necromancer's, if more organized: Kyuss was the Harbinger of the "Age of Worms", a time of devastation and darkness where evil would rise and good would be expunged from the world. Evan and I presented him with the worm we had recovered from Filge's laboratory in exchange for the information he had provided - even though at the beginning of the discussion we had agreed that the events occurring now were far too important to lay to the need to exchange coin, we agreed that it was best if we were to work together, our group and Azsimar and his informants, and that the sharing of information should be open between us. I promised to return if we were able to uncover any further information, and looked forward to anything he could learn of the worm from his studies along with providing him with the knowledge Filge had given us about it, such as its ability to burrow into a living being and transform them into powerful, resilient undead.
We parted ways after leaving Aszimar's manor; Vashrellehn went across town and spent the rest of the day spying out Balabar Smenk's home, while Ashlea and I pressed inquiry about the town for any strange goings-on in the mines. What we learned merely supported the information we'd acquired from Aszimar, sadly, as there was little new information to be had about the mines that the sage had not already provided.
Vashrellehn met up with us back at the safehouse and informed us of his findings from the day spent: Smenk's gated yard was patrolled by a trio of trained gorillas, who paid no heed to the human guards that walked Smenk's lands but would be unlikely to be so kind with intruders. Several plans to speak with Smenk were bandied about, along with some plans to infiltrate the mine, ranging everywhere from getting Garand hired as a miner to more unpleasant ideas such as forgery and blackmail. In the end we were persuaded that we still lacked enough information to act accurately, and chose to spend the next day or two continuing our investigations.