Hati felt indebted to the group that came by to rescue him
from the Kobolds. What they had said to
him with that strange yipping and snarling that they called a language was lost
on him, but by the cruel tightening of ropes and the pain that they sent him it
was clear that the message would soon end in sport he did not see from his clan
of wolves. The clean air, crisper than
the previous few green moons had been, but not beyond the home he had known in
the mountains. The tall elf, taller than
the snowy grey skinned elves of the mountain passes, took the lead when
scouting. She nearly disappeared in the
grass when she moved, her long recurve bow made from lowlander woods and the
bones of strange beasts was taller than him by half, it and her gone when she
wanted to go ahead. The black cat that
had attacked with the savageness he was used to from mountain cats was beside
him at a weary distance, clearly she recognized him as superior, or she was
just waiting for the right time to fight him for dominance. The noisy moving metal clad dwarf was alike
all his kind except that he carried a large weapon of odd shape called a Boom
stick, with the love that he had seen in a mother’s eyes. He was always chinking and clanking
about. He was also slow, but he carried a
noticeably big axe, almost as big as his hammer. The other one was very odd. She was dressed in white and sashayed as if
there was no worry in the world, but she stuck close to Monk and the Fighter
and held her nose when the wind shifted and blew his scent towards her. She was cleaner than a half-drowned wolf with
its inner hairs soaked. There was a
building in the distance they headed towards; it had a roof made of reflected
sunlight, that metal called gold.
The wall posed no obstacle for the party. It was low and eroded badly over the years,
many places the wall was completely gone, but the was an aura that over hang
they entire region that spoke of troubling danger: the grounds had been abandoned for a thousand
years, but the grounds were manicured, the trees shaped, the grass evenly
short. The grave markers were cleared of
lichen and moss, they were even polished.
In the distant, beyond the building there were even signs of disturbed
soil of new graves. Troubling.
As they approached the building in the center of the
grounds, the reason and cause of the maintained grounds became clear, work
gangs of skeletons with lawns and garden tools.
The gangs were oblivious to the party except when they tried to engage
them with their weapons. When that
happened, the skeletons then tried to manicure the party into the likeness of
burial corpses. Upon reaching the center
they found the entrances well guarded with undead skeletons with polearms and
ornate plate-mail. The decision was made
to look in the top by the Tabaxi slave, probably hoping that the gold top was
solid as opposed to just leaf. The top
was indeed leaf, but the slope was gentle enough to climb and at the apex,
there was a crystal dome, clear but beneath the darkness did not give up any secrets
from within. Keylesh had begun
scratching at the top to see if she could get in faster, but to no avail,
indeed she was wearing her claws down faster than anything. The Barbarian climbed up beside her and she
indicated that she wanted in. The dwarf
asked if he should use hi blasting powder, saying it would make a lot noise,
but should break the glass. The
barbarian hefted his hammer and brought it down on the crystal top. The hammer quivered and shook his arm, the
glass held tight but gave a little “chink”, from the impact. The barbarian lifted his hammer up and
smashed it down a few times in quick succession and was rewarded a little with
a spiderweb of cracks over the surface of the glass, but nothing else. One last hit and the 10’ diameter lens of
glass shattered and came down, and the people still standing on it leapt free
before they tumbled down into the darkness.
The fivesome stood at the edge and looked down. The light from the suns played on the wall, a
narrow oval of light, indented with the shadows of the party, but nothing else
was revealed until the dwarf unburdened himself of a torch and lit it and
dropped it down. The flame as it fell
illuminated a small radius of the room and hundreds of skeletons watched the
torch fall and gutter on the ground. The
barbarian muttered, “I can take them,” and looked to the rest of the
party. Tiara and Olrick looked down into
the mass of undead. Keylesh was already
sliding down the dome and leaping the last bit to land on all fours and beating
a hasty retreat. The rest looked around
and as if understanding the danger all those undead might mean, slid after her
to the ground. Sure, he could take them,
but if they were not in danger, then saving them was not an option this
time. He too made his own retreat.
The windswept ruins were dangerous with their hidden dangers
from the past, a temple filled to the brim with undead and at the core, from
the interrogations of the Goblin, a forward base of the Kobolds. Lots of activity and lots of silence
too. The major storm to the North and
the South still brewed on the horizons and the grey skies overhead dropped an
occasional flake of snow. Tiara was
often accused of not looking in the right direction, not paying the slightest
attention of where they were headed, and by her parents of having her head in
the clouds. Today was no different. She had stubbed her toe efficiently a few
times this day already, not when they were on the road, but crossing the
distance between the road and the set of structures that was still intact
outside the city core. The road had been
not what she would have called a road.
There were no cobblestones and there was no track, it was dry and
slightly higher than the ground around it and straight. That was the main thing straight and wit few
obstructions and no half-buried walls.
Like this wall. It was mostly
covered with grass and a deep cushion of moss and when she walked on it, she
stumbled and nearly tripped, wind milling her arms to maintain her
balance. When she recovered, she stopped
to regain her breath and wits. The foul-smelling
barbarian that they picked up this morning was watching her like he thought she
was a new animal and was not sure she was food or not. There was a glint over his shoulder and well
beyond him and she studied it before casting her eyes around to see if anyone
else had seen it. They were watching
their feet and where they were walking.
She announced her find to the Party.
Keylesh bounded from the perch she was standing on and
landed on a nearby crop of broken ruin that made up this field. She was preparing for the next pounce, the
game that she played in this boring place when Tiara, gasped, “Look at that,
it’s a flying yellow bird like an eagle.”
Keylesh, eagles were nothing to, get excited about and Tiara should have
been paying attention to where she was walking and not to the sky, she was
going to get herself more than a skinned knee if she were not more
careful. Keylesh stood and looked. Olrick, stammered, “That does not have the
look of any eagle I have seen, Lass.”
Keylesh stooped and stared.
Nerwen muttered, “Dragon, Plains Dragon,” then with urgency, “Run Tiara,
it is a dragon!” Nerwen turned and
started to run, she stopped and pointed, “Make for that wall and we can hide or
make defense.” Keylesh looked, it was
not far, but the Dragon was moving fast, and Tiara was still looking at the
dragon. Tiara turned and started to
run. The bulky barbarian looked like he
could run faster but was looking like he would sacrifice himself to repay his
silly and useless honour for rescuing him this morning. Let him.
She turned to sprint, using all fours to close the distance before the
rest. Nerwen arrived shortly after her
and the dwarf, the slowest member of the group was next. Tiara was moving slowly. The Dragon was moving in a erratic weaving
pattern as if hoping to scare prey into revealing themselves to it. Bonus, that meant it had yet to see them. Tiara tripped and fell flat on the ground,
her white cloak fanning out around her, Keylesh closed her eyes and spared a
prayer to Rassel, the Goddess of Slaves, there was more than one way to be
delivered from chains in this world, but if you believed the stories, those
that die in chains live out their afterlife in chains as well. She steeled herself to fight. Hati leapt over the wall and deposited the
terrified Half-Elf at his feet. The
large shape of the Yellow dragon flew over the wall, motion slowed to give the
impression that the dragon was much bigger than it appeared. Keylesh held her breath waiting for it to
return.
Nerwen climbed to the top of the crumbling wall and
looked. “it did not see us,” and she hopped
down, “it was a small dragon in any case.”
She motioned us to continue after we all took a breather. The Suns were starting to set, and it would
be night in a few hours.
There was a low wall around the group of buildings, at least
there was where they chose to break in.
the wall was only a few feet high and Keylesh was able to bound easily
over it. There were a series of sharp
looking rusted points protruding from the top, rusted with age to the point
that they had no point. Tiara was not
going to be able to climb or jump the wall and she looked a little left behind
until she walked along the wall’s edge for a few dozen feet and found a break
in it. She made her way to where the man
dressed like a wild animal was sliding over the wall and waited. As if caught in some embarrassing position
the animal tried to look like he only climbed the wall to retrieve one of the
spikes. Cautious of ruins, you decided
to make a circuit of the buildings and wall to see if there was a sign of what
lived here or even if anything lived here.
To yourself, you needed the time away from these people who seemed to
want to get eaten by that dragon. Sure,
you and they might have been able to defeat it, but at what cost, better to be
cautious. The side that you approached
the buildings seemed to be the correct side to approach from; there were some
large stands of trees inside the walls, which told you many things that you
doubt any of the rest had thought. No
grazer had come within here to eat the saplings down, which meant something
would be here that would frighten them away.
After your circuit you were not able to find anything out of the
ordinary, but you did have a mental map of everything within. There were five buildings, one central
building that rose seventy-five feet. By
the windows, each of the stories was fifteen feet tall and these buildings had
been looted sometime in the past; the main doors for the building had been
broken open. The out buildings were
identical in appearance, they all had a door facing away from the main building
and each was forty-five feet tall and had a walkway/bridge from there second
storey to the main building and that ended in a closed door. Two if the walkways had collapsed. Ivy had climbed each of the buildings past
the third storey. You returned to the
group and relayed your findings.
The forest is creepy.
The wood is young, no more than a century old and probably less. But the feel of this space is that it is
theirs and they own the space. The wind
is absent in their branches, but it feels that they wind is talking in their
upper boughs. A creak here and there and
the sound of a branch falling, large branches falling just after they move
through a glade. The hackles are raised
on the back of Keylesh’s neck before you and you can sense that she is more
than a little put out. If she feels put
out, then you feel slightly terrified, slightly, only slightly and nothing you
would give voice. The hairs at the nape
of you neck through your bushy beard are standing on end. Tiara is the only one that is unphased and
whether that is because she lacks the sense to be bothered or because she is so
good at keeping it in. You stumble and
sprawl upon the ground, the root that snagged your foot was not there when you
stepped. At a gesture and a word your
battle-axe is in your hand and you have brought it down upon the root in
anger. Snap. It is the birds you realise, there are no
birds. There is a creak and you
instinctually roll, a branch of dead wood falls where you lay on the
ground. Your axe is wet with tree root
sap.
Most of your life you were a play thing of that bastard
noble family in Trandle’s Stand, first a plaything for the children then a pet,
but after that time you cut the master with your claws, you were longer his
play thing and had to work in the quarry.
You missed the warm fire, but nothing else. The quarry was more honest. Not this though, nothing is right here. There are no trees on the plain and none in
the town. Here it feels that you do not
belong here, and the trees do not want you here. Unwelcome.
You have never felt more unwelcome in this forest than anywhere
else. That is a lot from a slave to say
that they feel unwelcome. The edge is
near. The copse of trees ends and the
openness where dragons can see you back.
You turn to encourage the rest forward.
You see them attacking one of the trees with hammers and axes, the dwarf
pinned to the ground by a huge taproot and a branch sweeping low to knock the
cleric sprawling. You crouch and spring,
race across the leaf litter to pounce upon the tree, slashing with your claws. The Dwarf is freed, and he rises and hacks at
the tree with two hurried swings. The
barbarian and axe in each hand swings down and wood chips fly, the Cleric
raises her mace high as it fills with light and she smites the tree. There is a crack and the tree falters, and
falls crashing to the forest floor, then there is silence, a pregnant pause in
the action daring the group to stay just a little while longer . . ..
Panting the party arrives at the bottom of the closest outbuilding
at the door. Keylesh feeling that the
obvious direction is the dangerous direction scales the wall of the building
easily and holds out her hand to Nerwen, in hopes that two from the second
level can attack what ever is in this tower from above when it attacks the
three entering from the ground floor.
Nerwen however is not used to climbing and the ivy breaks and peels away
from the side of the building in one large mat.
Keylesh motions to the rest to head in and she will take on the foe as
sole ambusher.
Hati, looks up and thinks, I do not see any evidence that
there is a threat in this building. He
and the dwarf approach the door. It is
unlocked, but the wood has swollen up in the thousand years that is saw regular
use and has welded itself to the frame.
Perhaps the cat had a useful idea, when they open this door it will make
a lot of noise. Keylesh was already
waiting at the top of the ruined walkway door, looking across to the main
building. The door does not budge with a
gentle push. Hati backs up and rushes
turning at the last second to take the door and door frame with his
shoulder. It shatters as if it were made
of fine china that he had encountered once years ago.
The loud noise was the perfect time for Keylesh to push open
her door. The great creak she heard she
felt was obscured by the exploding door.
Her door was stuck partially open and partial closed, but it would be
enough for here to slip in if she heard combat.
From her spot she could see light streaming in from the ground
floor. She waited and listened. There was talking from below and there was
another sound from above. Keylesh tensed
and decided against warning her comrades.
There were four of them and one of her, she did not want to fight them
by herself. Then she thought, if they
attack, her party would surely be able to defeat them, and she could see what
sort of treasure they have and grab some of it for her private stash for her
freedom. Then she is free she will pay
them back. A large figure landed on the
landing before the door, her door. She
was able to examine it from behind. It
looked like grey stone, but it had huge wings.
There was a patch of lichen growing on a section of the wings. The landing creaked after it landed, and it
looked like it was about to jump down amongst her companions. They might be able to kill both. A flash of light and a massive BOOM as Olrick
blasts the beast with his Blunderbuss.
Hati smacks the side of the gargoyle and his great hammer dances off its
side of its hide.
The second gargoyle looks down on the melee and glides to
the next landing over and crouches over the others looking at Tiara, nearly
defenseless, not seeing the danger above.
The landing creaks ominously under the weight. Keylesh pauses, they will probably defeat the
beasts, but Tiara might not survive if she does not act. She slipped through the door and leaps up and
over the space between the door and the next landing over, her tail swinging
wildly to maintain her approach, just as the gargoyle pushes off the landing
she lands on its shoulders forcing it down and adding her weight to its
mass. She stabs down with her sword and
slashes twice on its undamaged shoulders, one misses but the other two scores a
deep gouge in its side and head, and she pushed off to leap up to the next
landing above the door to investigate where they laired, the gargoyle crashes
uncontrolled through the landing and falls down to the first floor.
Tiara looked down on the fight and cast her spell on the
gargoyle as it lifted off the ground away from Hati, its wings snapped, and it
fell back to the ground where Hati and Olrick waited. A crash above her catches her eyes as she
sees Keylesh engage a second Gargoyle and push it off the ledge and fall
towards the others. Seeing that the
gargoyle is basically undamaged she rushes up the stairs hoping to catch up to
the cat person. She rounds the corner
and stops unbalanced at the edge of the gaping hole in the landing
teetering. The edge of the landing made
of wood a thousand years old begins to crumble and send her tumbling down. But she does not fall but swings up as a claw
snags her cloak and swings her up on to the cat’s back as she leaps to the top
of the third storey landing. The landing
fills the whole top floor and is filled with refuse and the bones of a great
many dead things. The setting suns light
the top of the floor lighting the room through a hole. The light glinted off the bones and she saw
something odd, a bone that was straight and tapered she grabbed at it and found
it was wood and had a word inscribed on it.
Tiara dropped back down the stairs and rushed to the edge and pointed at
the gargoyle fighting the three others.
“Zappo,” and four streaks of light pulsed out of the tip of the wand
with a spurt. The light lit the path
through the tower missing the Gargoyle and turning strafing the beast and
pounding the life from it. Hati, lifting
his hammer high and crushes the gargoyles head.
The dust from the smashed gargoyle sticks to Hati’s face
where it was wet with sweat. The party
sits down, and they look around. They
could rest here, there was a defensible door and lots of dry wood. The bits of gargoyle would reflect the heat
of a fire and they could rest here and be in good shape to look in the next
tower. Olrick was cleaning his
Blunderbuss and loading it, but he joined to conversation and agreed, this was
a good place to rest. Nerwen passed
around little red berries, two each, one for food and one for healing. Tiara revealed that also from the chamber
above was a fascinating picture book make of wood covered with bright coloured
enamel. It showed the city the way it
looked in its heigh-day.
The night was uneventful.
In the morning there was a heavy dusting of snow on the
ground outside the tower and one presumed the rest of the ruined city. Hati and Nerwen cautioned the party to hold
tight as they went out to investigate the area to see if they could see
evidence of movement in the area. There
was none, but the two agreed that the weather was about to change and head back
to warmer weather. The party had decided
that it might be a cunning idea to enter through a second tower and climb the
stairs to the second level and use the bridge on the other side to gain access
to the second level of the main building.
If there was anything living on the main level, they would pass it
by. They crept forward, keeping to single
file to disguise their numbers, if something saw their tracks. Hati broke open the tower door as quietly as
he could manage, which was a little bit quieter than the blunderbuss. The stairs inside this tower were rickety to
say the least; there were sections that were missing and the edge that was left
in the tower wall looked rotted. Keylesh
said that she would go a head to check it out the landing and the stairs in
between. When Olrick stated that he did
not think that this was a good idea, she reassured him that as a cat, she
always landed on her feet. Keylesh
bounded up the stairs leaping over the gaps in the stairs and landing with
enough force to dislodge accumulated dust from the boards, but the first
landing did not break. A minute later
her head dropped over the edge and proclaimed the way as safe as safe can be in
an old ruined tower. Looking at the
dwarf she stated, “That is safe even for you!”
The party took their time to climb the stairs and reach the second-floor
landing with the door outside. Keylesh
had whiled away her time waiting for them by freeing the door from its hinges
and surveying the way to the tower. It
was nearly fifty feet across and the entire way was covered with a thin layer
of melting snow. They all took a turn looking
at the causeway before discussing the next step. Olrick stated that if they were going to
cross here, they should cross now and slowly the others agreed. Olrick told them all that it was not right
that Keylesh should be the one in peril all the time and that he was capable of
crossing the chasm first, and besides, the door looked fairly secure and
strength might be needed to open the door.
With that, he set off towards the main building. He was warned that there was ice on the
bridge, but he ignored caution and decided to run the distance from door to
door. He set out at that run and
discovered that the road was paved with good intentions and ice and he slipped on
the last section of his run, barreling into the door, which shattered when he
hit it. Impacting the bridge bruised his
ego a little, but the sound alerted anything that was listening. Hati rushed forward with Nerwen leaping the
last icy patch and disappearing into the building. Keylesh and Tiara were the last to make the
run. Keylesh cleared the distance, but
Tiara slipped on the snow as two large gargoyles banked around the
building. She quickly tossed a rope
across the distance and hoped that her allies would pull her to safety if she
should fall again and ran out on to the walk.
A gargoyle was mid stoop and lashed at her as she ran, clipping her on
the side and causing her to regret waking up that morning, falling prone and
almost off the edge. The rope grew tight
as one of her companions pulled on it tightly.
She righted herself and swayed across the rest of the gangway and into
the central tower. The dwarf slammed the
door shut and barred the door whereupon the gargoyles slammed into the
frame. Tiara looked around hoping for
relief, but instead was greeted with signs of battle as her companions were
engaging with three skeletons who had been cleaning and filing books at the
time of the party’s entrance. It was
only when the last skeleton had impacted the first floor after the Barbarian
had slammed it off the floor into the open central region.
The tower was clearly a library. There were books lining the walls of the
floor they were on, all around the edge of the floor. The first floor was built with the same plan
with the central area being a large lobby.
On the floor was a dismembered person its topmost section laying five
feet from his bottom. Three other
corpses could be seen and a few piles of bones to boot. There were five skeletons working at cleaning
books on the bottom floor and six more on this level. The were on the other side of the room from
the stairs leading up and although the barbarian wanted to smash them all, the
others suggested more caution. They
tried to walk casually past the librarian skeletons and not disturb them,
succeeding for the most part until the dwarf ran right into the last one that
had turned suddenly. A brief battle
ensued until the last party member had climbed the stairs and the skeleton
resumed cleaning.
At the top of the stairs they were greeted with a not too
unexpected sight, living members of the group of people who had left the dead
on the main floor were standing at guard at the two doors that lead further
into this floor. They were dressed in
the livery of a foreign army. Upon
seeing the characters, one of the three guards disappeared through one of the
doors and the other two took up defensive positions challenging the heroes not
to advance. By their look, it would have
been a quick fight, the soldiers were wounded and had many bandages, moreover
they looked like they had not eaten anything in days.
When the guard who left returned, he brought with him two
other guards in equally poor condition.
Nerwen taking pity on the soldiers cast a spell and provided them each
with a berry, a Goodberry, and explained the this magical food would sustain
them for a day, then she took one an ate it before them, the captain took one
and ate it too, then he took the four remaining berries and retreated to the
next chamber. Nerwen gave the four
starving guards four more and bade them to eat.
They did without hesitation.
Their spirits brightened considerably.
The Captain returned and informed the characters that the Lady of Lami
would see them and wished to thank them for the gift that they had given
freely.
The room was had a feel of hurried searching in it. There was a pile of bones piled off to one
side and some old serviceable, at least in appearance, furniture. There were bookshelves that had been
ransacked and the ruined books lay in pieces.
The dwarf rested his axe against one of the tables and it promptly
collapsed, he apologised, and the others eyed the rest of the furniture and
gave them a wide berth. The Lady entered
the room preceded by her footman who announced her presence as her ladyship of
Lami. She thanked each of the characters
one by one, grasping their hands and kissing them in gratitude, she explained
that he expedition was on the brink of failure and therefore her people were
destined to be slaughtered at the hands of the king of Gutral Mastekeena. She explained that she and her sick husband
had been charged with finding two artifacts in this cursed city and failing to
acquire them would mean the death of their families and kin. Her husband entered the room too then. He was very unsteady on his feet and stated for
all to see that he was not dead yet and was capable of carrying out this last
part of the mission, he faltered and allowed Hati to help him to his feet. The Lord and Lady then asked the party if the
part could help them find the two things they needed and would happily pay for
their assistance. Nerwen and Hati agreed
to this task and when the lady said that they needed a picture book that showed
people the way the city looked when it was still a city, Nerwen produced the
book for them to see. They exclaimed
with joy that the mission was half a success already, if only they would go and
find the Tapestry of Relic in the Cathedral dedicated to Jard.
The party elated to finally to be doing something good and
worthy left the tower to continue the mission and save the Lady’s people. First, however they had to go and take care
of their mounts and show Hati where their main camp was located. They spent the night reflecting on the
information that they had discovered from the Lord and Lady. They had told them that there was a force of
Kobolds in the center of town and there were several giant kin in the city,
including ogres, and half ogres and an ettin, a two headed giant. That night they made their plans, trying to
decide when the city would be most active and when it would be least
active. They knew that the kobolds had
taken command of the city and had captured the goblins, using them as slaves;
how that had happened was a mystery as normally one goblin was worth more than
a kobold in a open battle, and this group included bugbears and hobgoblins too
and there were just as many kobolds as there were goblins. Kobolds, Nerwen knew detested the sunlight
and goblins could work in either. Both
had night vision, but vision during the day was superior to night, so they made
the guess that if they moved about in the day they would be equally advantaged
as the goblins but assumed that the kobolds would make them work at night to do
what ever it was that they were doing here.
So, in the morning they headed out at dawn. All went well until the characters
encountered a pair of tracks in the mud.
The feet were bare, and they were twice as long as Hati’s feet. A giant, clearly. They decided that if they were going to be
useful in a fight it might be good to get a little practise and maybe limber up
for the kobolds. So, they tracked the tracks
down to a building in the ruin that was partially collapsed. On the top of the flat roof appeared to be
five skeletons on patrol and the party stopped.
Nerwen, who all agreed that despite her extreme height could sneak far
better than any of them, stuck out on her own to look at the building from all
angles and to see what she could see.
She saw that there was no set of stairs to the roof, but there was a
collapsed wall in the building, and she could see, after she approached closer,
a two headed giant. It had looked like
there was one head awake and the other was asleep, she told the party. They decided that taking on a giant was
potentially a once in a lifetime thing and moved to the vantage point that
Nerwen had seen. The approached with
more stealth than the Barbarian thought the Dwarf could muster and were
positioned just inside the short range for the ranger’s Plain Elf Longbow and
Nerwen drew her bow to her ear and aimed and fired. The arrow struck the Ettin hard and the
sleeping head. The ettin lurched to its
feet as Nerwen drew again and fired, hitting again. The giant rose quickly and ran hard to where
the arrow had hit him. Nerwen fired
again and this time Olrick fired his crossbow and then dropped it and advanced
10 feet and squared his feet and drew his axe.
Hati, seeing the Dwarf advance, sighed and advanced to be alongside him
and readied his javelin. Nerwen fired
again and the Ettin charged the line, Olrick attacking him twice with his axe
and Hati throwing his javelin. Keylesh
not to be out done leapt into the fray and lashed out. The Ettin attacked with two heavy weapons,
one aimed at the dwarf and one at the Half-Orc.
The dwarf quivered for a second as he recovered from the blow, but Hati
had stepped off to the side as the great axe fell toward him. Nerwen cast Magic Missile, and Hati attacked
the Ettin with his hammer, Olrick missed and Keylesh attacked and expended two
of her blessings of Drogath striking the creature three times, once with her
sword and twice with her claws, the ettin stared briefly at infinity before
collapsing at the party’s feet dead. The
ettin had a little loot and the group collected it. The barbarian carved up the ettin for animal
scraps while the others rested.
The party headed toward the inner city. They stopped at the gentle rise that told
learned folk that this was the inner wall, long past covered with grass, but to
them it was a gentle rise that hid their prone forms and allowed them to survey
the grounds without being seen themselves.
Hati summoned a hawk down to him and bribed it with some ettin meat then
he asked to share its senses and to fly around the city allowing him to see the
whole layout. He told the hawk that he
would leave it a pile of scraps to eat at its leisure. The group spied a structure that looked interesting
to them and decided that it would bare further investigation. It was large and square and had water pooling
on the outside of it. They made their
way along the inner wall until the approach to the building would obscure them
from the eyes of the three patrols they found.
Keylesh the best climber, approached the outside that was hidden in a
copse of trees. The outside had badly
faded artwork on it, the bas relief showed scenes of water, fountains and
people bathing naked in mixed groups.
After she climbed to the top and look down, she confirmed that this was
a public bathhouse. The fountain still
worked and was spouting hot water into the air creating a mist in the cool
Spring air. The grates for the excess
water were covered up and the water had flooded the building. The exits in the wall were covered
deliberately with colonnades and part of the roof; the water was flowing
through the cracks in the obstructions.
The beside the water grate there was a large hole and the ceramics and
marble was cast aside within the bath house.
She returned to the group and told them what she had seen. Her fellows wanted to see for themselves and
to investigate the hole. When they did,
they found the hole had been enlarged from the original and there was a carved
ladder in the side. They descended.
The hole lead to the sewers of the city and the group
decided that it would avoid the patrols if they could get to their destination
in this underground maze of passages.
The Barbarian said that he could.
Hours later they emerged from the sewers outside the city, where the
sewers dumped their water. They were
only a few hundred meters away from their destination. They passed unnoticed through as region that
had seen little traffic except by hunters looking for rabbits. They approached the Cathedral of Jard, and
they tried to look through the windows, mostly they could not see a thing but
and an occasional twinkle of reflected light.
Reflected off gold. They came to
the front door and they found that the door and the wall was defaced with scrawling
of kobolds in Draconic. Nerwen translated:
Danger. Never Enter. DANGER.
Above them also written in Draconic was more Danger signs threatening
anyone that disobeyed death by being eaten if they do not die in here. The door showed signs of being broken into
and more signs of trying to unbreak in as well, but these would have been more
successful from the inside and from the writing on the outside, no one was
going to do that.
Hati pushed hard on the door and the boards and nails
keeping the doors shut fell apart. They
were here to get Relic’s Tapestry and then to leave, they were not going to
stay long enough to see why the Kobolds did not want anyone in here. The entry way was clear of all
furnishings. The chamber was grand with
vaulting ceilings and the sides of the stone were covered with oiled cedar wood
that gave the room a pleasing aroma which almost covered up the stench from the
three kobold corpse in the center of the room.
The group stood over each of them and looked at them to see if they could
discover what killed them, so that they would know what the potentially
faced. The bodies were carefully
examined and other than advanced decomposition there were no marks on the
outside of their bodies. The expressions
plastered on their post rictus faces and the consultations of magic and religious
knowledges concluded that the kobolds died of necrotic damage or other energy
damage types. The group knew there were
undead present for sure. They proceeded
with some caution.
They stepped up the one stair that separated the foyer of
the temple from the main area and entered the combined Sanctuary and the
Chancel. Almost all the furniture had
been removed from the sanctuary of the temple, only the very odds and ends of the
time before were still here and most of that broken remains. More kobold bodies lay like cast aside puppets
after their strings were cut. The tall stained-glass
windows illuminated the room with the fading light of the day and the gold in
the chancel reflected the light in dazzling ways that ignited yearning in the
hearts of poor adventurers. The other
main feature of the room was the tapestries that hung from every wall that was
also not a window. Each depicted a scene
from the mythology of Jard or the many saints of the god. They depicted acts of righteousness that Jard
favours. Each of these tapestries would
be valuable to the correct buyer, the clergy of Jard. You think that to that right buyer you could
get 100 gold if they were removed with loving care and 50 gold to anyone
interested in the antiquities of old. On
the other hand, if they were torn down with little care, the shredded cloth
might be worth 10 gold to the right seamstress.
The altar contained the real treasure, for those that thought gold was
treasure, the two candlesticks were ornate gold encrusted with minor flashy gems
probably worth 1000 gold a piece and there are the two candles still in them
too. The chalice includes a large ruby
in the stem and a few other notable gems and as such it is likely worth 2500
gold. The sword that lies on the altar
seems to be only ceremonial, gems are studding the blade from the hilt to the
tip, the pommel is a pearl of surpassing beauty making the whole worth 1500
gold. The altar itself is studded with
100 shiny but inexpensive 10 gold gems and 50 more valuable 50 gold gems; the
arrangement is pleasing along the with the gold leaf on the stone and would be
worth double the value of the stones, if it could only be moved more
easily. A brief search of the two rooms
reveals a vestry behind the curtain wall in the chancel and the vestments of
the high priest, worth 500 gold to the right person and two doors behind the
tapestries on the walls of the sanctuary.
There are fifty tapestries in these two rooms (total value of the
contents—to the right person, 18,500 gold).
But in the discovery process, Nerwen stumbled upon the reason
why this cathedral had never been pillaged, and darkness shrouded the chancel
of the temple, cloaking her and the area completely. Tiara, uncertain where the trouble was going
to come from was standing in a central position in the sanctuary, immediately acted
upon hearing Nerwen’s gasp and seeing, not seeing, her enveloped in darkness,
rushed to her aid. “Great Candalmar, I
call on you to banish this darkness,” she commanded and with that radiant light
in the appearance of fire with the colour of candle flame washed the region
between Tiara and Nerwen, washing the darkness from the air and burning the
undead souls of six of the eight spectres that had appeared in the
darkness. Each of their little violet
forms appeared to be a screaming kobold.
Everyone held their breath waiting to see what would happen next.
Keylesh seeing her chance to save the rest of the party,
leapt up and grabbed the closest tapestry and tore it from its anchoring, in a
terrible rip and then fled across the room to goad the spectres into chasing
her out into the last vestiges of daylight, hoping it would dispel the undead
horrors. That is what she must have
intended on doing, but instead she accidentally summoned the wraith that had
created the kobold spectres and the smoky creature uttered a rasping rattle and
pointed to Keylesh is the defiler of the temple and she should be killed. Nerwen eying all the undead creatures
everywhere around her pissed herself with fear but fought down every instinct
to make a bolt for the door and faced off every spectre as she beat a retreat
into the sanctuary. Hati advanced and
struck at the first spectre as he filled him self with rage certain that they
were all going to die, his pact to save the party unfulfilled. It discorporated. Olrick charged into the melee with his
blunderbuss leveled and fired into the crowd of exotic ghost material and then
summoned his axe to his hand and smote the nearest spectre. The spectres were given a target and they
rushed head long at the defiler of the temple, Keylesh; her plan had worked better
than she could ever had imagined!
Keylesh confident that they would chase her down until the
end of time sprinted out of the cathedral on all fours and out into the setting
suns. Nerwen recovering from her initial
fright cast a magic missile spell and sent four missiles into two of the most
damaged spectres killing them. Tiara
cast a Flaming Sphere spell and a five-foot-tall sphere of candle flame erupted
next to a spectre and the wraith and then she ran to back up the retreating
Keylesh. Hati ran to interpose himself
between Tiara and a spectre but missing the horror with his attack. Olrick hacked at the wraith and score a solid
hit, but the wraith turned its fury upon the dwarf now that the monk had gone
beyond its reach and smote the fighter in one hit to unconsciousness. The spectres wheeled around and began
attacking the remaining party. Keylesh
stopped and sank to her haunches and waited for the undead to chase her out,
but nothing followed. Nerwen launched
her last 2nd level magic missiles at the spectres, hoping to destroy
two more, but only killed one. Tiara
cast a Spiritual Weapon and attempted to attack the same spectre with two
attacks, one from her and one from the spell; both were misses. Hati attacked and hit a spectre, and Olrick
from his prone self gasped and recovered a little from his near death. the wraith and the remaining spectres closed
in to attack and it hit the half-orc and attempted to knock him too to the
ground.
Keylesh began to return to the temple seeing her ruse had
failed to bring results. And she entered
the temple proper. Nerwen cast fire
bolts at the spectres and wounded them fine and Tiara healed the barbarian and
attacked with her spiritual weapon but missed.
Hati attacked recklessly and hit and killed a spectre. Olrick gasped a second breath and raised
himself from prone. Keylesh finally re-entered
the battle and attacked the wraith, the wraith appearing to waver in strength
as Nerwen killed the last Spectre with a magic missile. Tiara healed the barbarian again, the cold
covered him from the last attack that nearly knocked him out, if but for Tiara’s
healing and he hit with all the strength that was his do, but still it fought
on. Olrick launched himself at the
apparition that nearly killed him and hit it.
The wraith noticed the cat person who had desecrated the temple was here
and attacked her, only to have her doge to the left. Keylesh attacked a final time mostly
ineffectually and Nerwen expended her last spell slot on the wraith. But it was Tiara who also lacking in spells
reached out and attacked the wraith out of desperation, missing but putting it
off for the spiritual weapon to successfully and permanently send the wraith to
hell, where it belonged.
Everyone decided to rest.
Hati claimed he was good to go on but was secretly relieved to take a
rest.
