Zephday, 38 Caladay 204 [continued]
After five minutes of running, Ravenna realises that she is not
being followed across the moor land. She breathes a silent sigh
of relief and pauses to consider her options. She could die on the
moor land if she cannot get back to the provisions on the horses
and besides, she is quite willing to help Brack (as long as the
dwarf is still alive). She sends Snowy off across the moor to see
if Brack is dead, and begins to trace a wide circle back to the
barrow so not to run into Josepp and his friends again.
Elias, Raza, Arvan and Nicos open their eyes slowly. Above them
is the brilliant sapphire blue of the sky. They can feel a hot sun
beating down upon them. They are lying on their backs in long, lush
grass and feel completely at peace. They lie staring at the sky
for some time, but each has a nagging feeling that something has
gone terribly wrong, and that they have left something important
behind. Raza sits up abruptly, he is very dizzy and has a tremendous
headache. A lush, rolling grassland continues without feature in
all directions to a horizon that is lost in a shimmering haze. Then
it all comes flooding backs. The barrow, and the fight and the wights
and….
“We’re dead,” says Elias authoritatively. “Don’t
be stupid,” says Nicos trying to take his pulse. Whatever he
doesn’t find stops him from continuing the sentence. None of
them can find their pulse, they don’t seem to be able to feel
pain, they find it difficult to focus their mind. The general consensus
is that they are in serious trouble. All eyes turn to Nicos. He
is trying to summon a flame, but all connection to Calafax is gone.
Nicos notices their glares. “It’s not my fault!”
he says. But thanks them for trying to save him anyway. If it’s
any consolation, he is sorry that he got them all killed.
Suddenly, the air to the left of the group begins to shimmer slightly,
and takes on the quality of frosted glass. Through the distortion
they can see a vast forest that was not there before. There is movement,
but it is indistinct and impossible to discern. Nicos approaches
the distortion and, proving that he has learned nothing from experience,
pokes it with his finger. He can see an indistinct shape approaching
from the woodland; it strides to its side of the distortion and
steps through. Andel stands before them, and they can tell by his
eyes that he is not happy.
“Did I not tell you to avoid the barrows?” he bellows.
Andel’s form appears slightly translucent. He is not present
in the same way the others are. “What were you thinking?”
When Elias replies that they were trying to rescue Nicos, Andel
counters that they shouldn’t have been anywhere near the barrow
in the first place. “Have you any idea what is at stake here?”
Andel rages. Elias speaks for the group when he says that he has
no idea what is at stake. “Narramac believes you have potential,
but you are impetuous and your impetuosity has got you killed!”
That shuts them up. Andel calms slightly, but there is still much
anger in his voice.
“This is the place between life and death. This is the place
where those people who foolishly worship the Moon Gods believe they
will be ushered to their final rest by Mortis. This is where the
soul goes when it departs the body. Only for you it will dwell here
a short time. You were slain by the barrow wights. Before the sun
sets on the day following your death you will rise again as undead
creatures. You will be totally subservient to the barrow king. Your
soul will be trapped within that decaying form and you will suffer
for eternity in that place. You will feed on the rotting carrion
that litters the place, and prey on the innocent travellers of the
moor over the years, the decades and the centuries.” They can
leave the barrow? Elias asks. “No,” says Andel, “but
some are stupid enough to walk in.”
Raza can’t believe it, he says that there must be some way
out of this, something that he can do. Andel shakes his head. “I
doubt any of you have the will to return to your bodies, and even
then the task is all but impossible. I cannot help you, Narramac
cannot help you. You would not succeed alone.” The group pressure
him to tell them anyway.
“You could will your body back to consciousness. It would
neither stop nor slow down the process, but your body would obey
your own will until sunset. There would be only one way to save
yourselves. You would have to kill the barrow king, but that is
a task that is beyond you, I am sure.” Andel turns and walks
back to the distortion. “I can stay no longer,” he looks
thoroughly disappointed at the group. “I doubt we will ever
meet again. If we do, I will be most impressed.” Andel takes
a step backward and vanishes. The shimmering in the air ceases,
falling to the ground like mist.
They must will themselves back to their bodies, this much is clear.
They do not have much time. They haven’t a clue how long they
were in this place before Andel turned up. Each of them concentrates
and begins to picture their body in their own way; each trying to
remember exactly how they were and where they were before their
death. Arvan watches as Raza, Elias and Nicos fade from sight leaving
him alone in the grassland. He failed. Whether he did so deliberately
to get five minutes peace and quiet, or was genuinely trying to
leave is unclear. Regardless, his fate is now in the hands of his
three companions.
Caladay, 39 Brightday 204
Nicos, Raza and Elias awaken. They are standing propped against
stone; they have been walled up in four separate oubliettes on the
second level of the barrow. Looking at their bodies, there has been
a great change. They are now inhuman creatures. Their skin has a
greenish hue and is obviously dead, they have claws rather than
hands and, calling to one another, demonstrates a terrible decay
in their throat. But there is more to their new state than mere
appearance. There is a wild-eyed hunger about them. They have a
craving for the sweet flesh of the living, and it is an urge that
they can barely suppress. In a state of shock they regard their
prison.
Snowy returns to Ravenna, and reports that Brack is not dead. The
sorceress arrives in the camp a little after dawn, to find the horses
spooked but still tied to the tree where she left them. Surveying
the scene, she sees two things that give her pause. The first is
Brack, lying unconscious in the doorway of the barrow. The second
is Elias’ owl familiar lying in a death-like state on the grass.
She retrieves both. Seeing to Brack first, she returns the dwarf
to a state of consciousness, but he is too weak to do any more than
lie on the ground. The owl she swaddles in cloth and tries to keep
warm. It is obviously dying. Something terrible must have happened
to Elias.
Marking the place where Arvan body is located with a cairn of stones,
the three newly undead companions make their way slowly to the stairs
leading down to the crypt of the barrow king. They emerge into a
chamber full of wights. The creatures bicker and snarl at each other,
fighting over the rancid meat that litters the floor. The magical
darkness that was such a barrier before is no obstacle to their
new powers of vision. The barrow is much, much larger than they
had first thought. Where the darkness started the barrow continues
for several hundred feet into a vast mausoleum of crypts. There
are not just thirty wights here, there are scores; perhaps hundred
of the creatures. They had discussed what plan they could best use
against the king, and “rush him” was the one they all
settled on. However, looking at his sarcophagus, they realise that
there is no way they can get to it without alerting all the creatures
in the chamber. They think: what the hell?
Nicos stoops and retrieves some carrion from the floor. As he brings
it to his mouth, Elias has a terrible urge to challenge him for
the meat. He only just manages to stop himself and turn away as
Nicos eats the morsel with relish. Now, entirely disgusted, the
three move over to the barrow king’s stone coffin. They quickly
pull back the lid to reveal the resting king; it’s desiccated
face even more repulsive from this distance. It is a wearing an
iron crown, surprisingly free of rust.
They act quickly, taking the king by surprise. Raza grabs the crown
believing that it must be of some significance. He succeeds in wresting
it from the king’s head but drops it back into the coffin.
Nicos snatches it up in his stead. Elias tries to act, but cannot
bring himself to violence against the king. The king is his master.
The king also sits up and backhands Raza, a blow the ex-monk deftly
avoids. As the barrow king clambers of his coffin, a large bronze
broadsword in his hand Nicos tries to destroy the crown. He stamps
on it and hammers it on the ground, to no avail. The barrow king
is coming straight for him. He sees no alternative and puts it on.
Nicos’ head is engulfed in a nimbus of light. There is another
mind in this crown, but he pushes it to one side with a great effort
of will. Suddenly, he can hear the mutterings of all the wights
in the chamber, and they are all looking at him. Nicos is their
king, he can feel it now. He commands all the wights in the chamber
to attack and destroy the barrow king. They immediately obey (including
Raza) Elias manages to resist the summons. He still can’t bring
himself to fight his master.
A wave of wights engulf the king as it reaches for Nicos. The vile
undead bite and claw at their old ruler. But the king is strong
and doesn’t slow down. He successfully slices at Nicos with
his broadsword. Nicos staggers backwards. Raza leaps onto the king’s
sword arm, putting him off his stride. This saves Nicos from a second
attack. More wights pile onto the barrow king, but he reaches forward
and grabs the crown with his free hand. Before he can put it on,
however, Raza somersaults forward and leaps headfirst into the crown.
The momentum carries him away from the barrow king. Now he is master
of the wights! Or so he thinks……..
The mind that Nicos supplanted is too strong for Raza. He wears
the crown by it is still controlled by the barrow king. He orders
Raza and all the wights to attack and destroy Nicos. Things are
looking bleak as a hundred wights bear down on the cleric. Elias
is behind him, but can render no aid. He still cannot attack the
barrow king. At the last moment, Raza gains control and sends wight
upon wight at the king. Nicos tries to run, but Raza’s command
affects him as well. Although he is close to death he continues
to battle to his last. In the meantime, Raza runs away. He keeps
in front of the barrow king at all times and waits. Waits until
the weights of wights bring the monster down.
Finally, Elias puts his thoughts in order and rushes to attack
the barrow king – something that probably saved Nicos’
misbegotten life. Raza watches as eleven wights hang about the king’s
shoulders and torso. But despite this he is coming for Raza. The
creature’s strength must be incredible. It reaches out for
Nicos, but the wights finally get the best of him. The barrow king
falls and is ripped apart by his subjects.
A wave of pain and nausea flood over Elias, Raza and Nicos. They
drop to the floor. The crown falls off Raza’s head. Staring
at their hands they can see them returning to human form. They have
been successful, but they are not out of danger yet. Peering over
a crypt Raza can see that the death of the king has driven the wights
mad. They are turning on each other and ripping into anything that
moves. It is chaos. And lying in the middle of that chaos is Elias
and Nicos. Both of them have opened their eyes. Elias is a little
more alert, Nicos is vomiting up the carrion he consumed earlier.
Thinking fast, Raza grabs the barrow king’s crown. He doesn’t
put it on but tucks it under his cloak. He then calls to his friends
and runs from the crypt. One of the wights catches him a formidable
blow as he leaves and once more he feels the negative energy coursing
over him. He makes it to the stairs and rushes to freedom.
Elias picks himself up, grabs the barrow king’s sword and
runs for the exit. Many wights assail him, but he manages to escape
unharmed. Nicos blears up from the floor. He’s been abandoned
by both his friends and only the fact that the wights haven’t
noticed him is keeping him alive. Gently, he casts a mage armour
spell and waits for the right moment to run for it.
On the way to his freedom Raza almost blunders into Arvan. With
the death of the barrow king the druid returned to life inside the
oubliette and was quick to smash his way to freedom. Raza quickly
explains that they are leaving and rushes toward the doorway. Elias,
halfway up the stairs remembers what they actually came in for,
and turns back to retrieve Nicos. By this time Nicos has reached
the stairs and is running up. They smash into each other at a great
rate of knots and Nicos is rendered unconscious. Cursing, Elias
slings the cleric over his shoulder and heads for the exit.
Outside, Brack and Ravenna can hear a hammering on the door and
a screaming for help. They are initially uninterested, as they have
been hearing exactly the same thing all day. Then Ravenna notices
that Elias’ familiar seems to have recovered to full health.
She rushes toward the barrow and knocks the door with her quarterstaff.
It opens easily this time. Arvan, Raza, Elias and Nicos spill into
the daylight. They are save for now.
Arvan quickly uses his magic to get Nicos and Brack moving again
and they take their horses away from the barrow. They have lost
a day, but were already two days ahead, so they should be all right
for time. Arvan returns to the path he was forging the previous
day. There are other tracks on it now of six horses. Ravenna tells
them all about Josepp and his group, although she says that she
didn’t see horses there the previous evening. By the later
afternoon they have camped in a small hollow and are getting some
much needed rest and recuperation. Ravenna begins to play with her
puzzle box as the others get some sleep.
Ravenna has been considering the box for some time. She can press
a number of catches it and get it wholly out of shape very easily,
but she cannot seem to open the thing. She casts read magic on the
box. She sees that a sentence written in magical script snakes around
the outside of the box. It reads: “If this box was not intended
for you, then open it at your peril. If you are undaunted, then
follow my words.” Ravenna, does indeed ‘follow’ the
words and traces her finger around the box. There is a click and
a razor sharp needle springs out and imbeds itself in her wrist.
As the rest of the group watch, Ravenna’s cry of victory is
muted as she slumps to the floor.
Ravenna opens her eyes to see a landscape of total darkness. Pin
pricks of coloured light dot the darkness. Suddenly, she can hear
Derriac’s voice from out of the gloom. Then the figure of her
mentor appears. He was gaunt and haggard and when he made this recording.
Slowly he speaks:
“Ravenna. Should you ever have the misfortune to receive this
message, it means that you have returned to Uris. If the wolf is
not yet full grown then you have returned too soon, little one.
You have enemies in this city, enemies you could never expect or
prepare for. There was much you should have been told, but it was
not my place to tell it. Know that I live; but you must not try
to find me. Promise me that, little one, the world in which I move
is dangerous beyond belief. Leave Uris, travel far away. Find your
parents, they can explain. Perhaps one day I will seek you out.”
With that the image fades and Ravenna wakes to find the others
standing over her concernedly. “He’s alive!” she
says. “Derriac’s alive! And I have even more enemies than
I thought I did.” The puzzle box is now open. Inside is an
amber pendant that seems to carry abjuration magic of some sort.
Ravenna places it around her neck. For the first time in a long
time she seems happy. “I have to find my parents,” she
says.
The bronze sword is now examined. The runes on its side look a
little like Thorass, but are in a language that no-one can understand.
The application of a spell reveals the name Usslüs, but nothing
else. It is enchanted with invocation magic. While casting his spells,
Elias notices the crown that Raza is carrying. It is heavy with
necromancy. Raza says that he knows what he is doing. He won’t
use the crown, but they must take it some where it can be destroyed.
The group is unsure, but Elias says that he has absolute faith in
Raza in this matter, and trusts the monk to keep the crown.
At dusk the party head off and soon come to the southern tip of
the deep crevasse they were seeking. By tossing a rock into it,
they think that it is nearly two hundred feet deep, and it looks
as though it was scooped out of the earth by a gigantic claw. The
tracks of the other party carry on along the edge of the gorge,
and they decide to follow them, assuming that Josepp knows where
he’s going.
Sharday, 40 Brightday 204
Just after dawn, as they are leading their horses, the group comes
upon what could be the way down they have been waiting for. Six
perfectly cylindrical staffs of ivory stand from the ground on their
side of the crevasse. Six others stand exactly opposite them on
the other side. Each column seems to have been crafted from a single
bone of an enormous creature. They are not magical, but are marked
with draconic runes and the symbol of Io (the nine-pointed star).
However, they are immediately greeted with a mystery. There is a
rope leading down into the darkness, and they assume that is the
way Josepp’s party went….. but what became of their horses?
After much discussion, looking for track and Snowy sniffing the
area it is decided that the horses vanished. They might have been
creatures conjured by a mount spell. There are also good deal of
ash on the surface, near to the columns. Someone has been lighting
fires here for many seasons. Brack goes down the rope to investigate.
Fifty feet down he comes to a sandy ledge strewn with small bones
and footprints. The tracks of the other party start again here,
and lead to a set of smoothly cut stairs that spiral deep into the
chasm.
The rest of the group soon join Brack and begin the descent into
the earth. The stairs are treacherous, but as long as they walk
slowly they are in no danger of falling. Eventually, the stairs
level off and the group comes to an enormous chamber. Most of it
is filled with fallen rocks, masonry and debris that looks very
treacherous to walk across. They are 200 feet below the surface
in a chamber significantly wider than that. Daylight is just visible
far above them. But their attention is grabbed by the edifice that
stands before them.
The fact that it is in ruins takes little from the size and the
grandeur of this place. A huge broken tower stands a hundred feet
high with a great dragon cast into the side of it. Whomever dwelt
in this place it was obviously designed for individuals four times
the size of a normal man. Beyond the tower is a vast rambling structure
that has most sunk into the ground. The shear scale of it beggars
the imagination. The material the structure is built from is also
a mystery. A strange black marble; but it looks as though the building
was cut in its entirety from one single, vast block. As though it
was sculpted rather than built. Elias visibly swallow. The same
material made up the ruins that his home, Raith Keep, was built
upon. What is the connection? Without a doubt, the party has found
the Temple of Io.
Prodigal Wizard
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