Sharday, 40 Brightday 204 [continued]
The debris that stretches out from the temple is exceptionally
treacherous. Even as Ravenna puts her weight on it she can tell
that she is in danger of being pitched through the rubble into any
number of small crevices below. Brack and Arvan move out into the
chamber, continually testing the area ahead. The group move slowly,
convinced that this the way that Josepp, Whisper and the rest of
that party came. Brack says that he can detect movement beneath
the rubble, a fact that only serves to redouble their determination
to get to the other side safely.
It takes five minutes to cross the two hundred feet of rubble.
On the far side is a small cobbled courtyard. Above the party rises
the enormous shell of the tower. It is at least 120 feet in height,
and evidently used to be much higher. However, it is not the tower
that immediately grabs the interest of the group. There are dozens
of bodies littering the courtyard area. There is no smell of decay,
for they have been dead for some time (at least ten seasons, Arvan
thinks). All the flesh, hair and leather clothing has been picked
away by scavengers, and there is nothing left but bones. The bodies
are mostly goblin and kobold, although there are some humans amongst
the number. Raza quickly searches the bodies and discovers that
they have been completely stripper of anything of any value. There
is no money, jewellery or anything worth taking. Looking carefully
at the gnawing at the bones and the larger bite marks, Brack declares
that the scavengers were rats, possibly dire rats.
Ravenna casts a detect magic spell at the tower. The entire structure
radiates a mixture of abjuration, divination and faint conjuration
enchantments. The magic has been cunningly woven together, but she
senses that there is something missing from the pattern, although
she can not determine what that something is. Elias says that the
magicks that surrounded the similar structure that Raith Keep was
built upon were designed to keep dragons out. This could be much
the same thing. He finds it difficult to believe that his past could
come back to haunt him three and a half thousand miles away from
home. “Three and a half thousand miles!” he says.
Ravenna leads the way into the shell of the tower. As suspected
there are no floors above, just the open air rising up into the
darkness. There are three exits from this room. The door to the
north is shut and barred, it radiates magical energy. It is to this
door that the tracks of Whisper and her cronies head. There is also
a door to the east that that is ajar. To the south is an opening
that leads 30’ into darkness. The doors have been constructed
on a vast scale. They are twenty feet high and half that wide. The
group determines to have a look through the open doorway, but first
they wander into the opening – it is much smaller, half the
size of the doors, and they hope that there is nothing large lurking
in there that might eat them.
Ravenna throws a pebble enchanted with a light spell into the darkness,
and Brack wanders into the tunnel. The walls, floor and ceiling
are made of this same peculiar black/blue marble. On the floor are
three skeletons. They are humanoid but slightly larger than a human.
The bones are thin and willowy. It is possible that they are skeletons
of elves, but considering that no-one has ever seen an elf in living
memory this is not a theory that can be confirmed. Leaving the remains
the group exits and turns to the door that was ajar. Upon entering
this room they see a sight they will carry with them until the end
of their days.
Any sign of rubble and filth stops at the door. It is obvious that
the chamber is maintained and cleaned regularly. It is still old,
it is very old, and there are signs of that age in the decay and
general wear and tear of the place, but there is someone or something
that looks after this place. The room that the six enter is a large
chamber, 80’ wide and 120’ long. The floor is tiled with
white marble, with the exception of many sapphire blue tiles that
make up a nine pointed star. The walls and the ceiling are one giant
fresco of dragons. There is not an inch of space in the vast painting
that is not a dragon. They are painted entwined, overlapping and
juxtaposed like one gigantic collage. Dragons of all types, colours
and failings are included in the work, including a number of strange
prismatic coloured dragons that even Elias does not recognise. Above
the centre of the star is the painting of a single enormous dragon
that Elias takes to be Io. The group moves slowly thorough the chamber,
searching for any hidden traps or signs of danger. There are none.
Eventually they arrive at the only exit. It is another 20’
door, that is also ajar – quite fortunately, for the fresco
also covers it, and shutting the door would make the portal all
but invisible.
The doorway leads to another grand chamber lit only from a series
of alcoves down either side of the room. In the alcove, resting
on pedestals, are a series of crystal globes, each larger than a
man’s torso. Most of the globes give off flickering light of
many colours, others sit dark and dead. Ravenna advises that everyone
keeps to the middle of the chamber and hurries through. The globes,
she says, are magical and there is no telling what they might do.
Elias however, feels himself drawn toward them. This place is so
reminiscent of his home and his own faith that he is strangely moved
by the surroundings. Ravenna sees him and follows closely behind
Elias trying to keep him out of trouble. When Elias gets within
an arms length of the globe it begins to hum, and rises several
inches above the pedestal. Fantastic music, begins to fill the chamber,
as the globe plays a piece of impossible composition and beauty.
If there are words, no-one present can understand them; neither
can they fathom the instruments that were used in the, or even recognise
some of the notes that are played. All that is real to them is the
effect the music has. To say it is moving would be a gross understatement.
Arvan, Ravenna and Brack find themselves on the verge of tears;
Elias, Raza and Nicos quite happily ball their eyes out at the emotion
of the moment. The globe plays for almost fifteen minutes before
settling back on the pedestal. The silence of the chamber is suddenly
more oppressive than before.
“Well, they didn’t know we were here, they do now,”
says Ravenna wryly as she leads the group from the room and into
a long corridor. They emerge into another vast chasm – lit
with a dull red glow. At one end is a dragon, rearing up toward
them.
Although Elias is ready to run for his life, the rest of the group
soon realise that the dragon is only a statue – if “only”
is the right word. As they get closer they see that the statue is
sixty feet in height, and is made of tens of thousands of sapphires.
There is a heavy thump as Brack’s jaw hits the floor. On closer
inspection, Raza notes that the gems are not actually held together
by anything, nor does the statue radiate magic. It soon sinks in,
that this is a feat of fantastic engineering. Each gem had been
cunningly crafted and then assembled like an enormous three-dimensional
jigsaw so that the weight of the pieces above keep the entire structure
whole. Such an accomplishment would give even the gnomes of the
Five Colour Kingdom pause. It is obvious to all assembled that the
statue is worth an absolute fortune.
“Don’t touch anything!” Ravenna announces, as Brack
starts tapping at the gems experimentally with the handle of his
war-axe. The statue stands on a plinth, that is covered with writing
in the draconic script that no-one can read. Two magical blue/green
flames burn at the bottom of the statue, giving the structure the
appearance of a shrine. The magic is not powerful, perhaps some
variation of the light spell, and would have to be re-cast periodically.
Something would have to live here to do the re-casting. The group
looks around furtively, but there is still no sign of any other
life in the temple.
The one exit from here is as obvious as only a twenty foot high
stone door with a sculpture of a leaping dragon can be. Unfortunately
the door is closed, and it takes all six of them pushing as one
to get the thing open. Another note: whatever lives here is very
strong. This door opens directly into a large chamber flanked with
statues created from red-veined marble. The statues are of dragons,
half-dragons and what appears to be elves. Ravenna presses on to
an archway leading to another room, where an ominous green light
is emanating.
Suddenly, Elias’ owl turns and gives a swift hoot. Spinning
the group sees some sort of imp shoot out of the chamber as fast
as its wings will carry it. Before any of them can react the quasit
has gone. There is little they can do about, and so they move on
into the glowing chamber.
The glow comes from several magical torches that are attached to
the walls and burning with a green flame. The room is large and
square, and there are no other exits from it. In the top right hand
corner a section is curtained off from the rest of the room, but
by far the most impressive sight is the large sarcophagus that sits
in the centre of the room. It is about twenty-five feet in length,
and covered in intricate carvings of dragons. The lid itself is
carved as if it were one large dragon, the neck and head rising
over the sarcophagus and the wings folded before it to make the
top of the lid. The sarcophagus is closed. Ravenna fearlessly strides
in, heading for the curtain. The rest of the group follow her.
Hurrying behind Ravenna, Arvan notices something that she did not.
On the far side of the sarcophagus is what looks to be a comparatively
small table. Several books, at least as large as The Theology of
Dragons are stacked, with several others strewn across the floor.
There is an elegant (is over-sized) china tea-set on the table.
One of the cup is full of brown liquid, and is steaming slightly
in the cold air. It has not been long left. Striking out of the
sarcophagus is what appears to be a pillow, caught by the lid as
it was slammed down in a hurry. Elias examines the books on the
table. He cannot understand any of the languages in them, although
he thinks they are draconic in original. While he does this, Ravenna,
Raza and Nicos look behind the curtain. There is a very large desk
strewn with papers and books. Shelves above the desk stretch up
to the ceiling; they are also lined with books. Nicos announces
that many of the items on the desk are magical, particularly some
of the books and inks. It is then that they hear a noise that freezes
their blood.
It is a dull roar that rises up from somewhere deep in the temple.
Soon after, it is followed by the vicious pounding of heavy feet
hurrying closer to the party. Whatever is coming for them is very
heavy, very fast and very angry. There is a further roar and an
enormous creature bursts into the chamber. It is twenty feet tall
and, though humanoid, has an obvious draconic heritage. The skin
is a brilliant blue that reflects the light from the torches in
all directions as if it were a highly polished gem. But the skin
is not gem-like, for as the creature moves it ripples like water.
The feet are enormous dragon-like talons, and the hands have wicked
claws. The neck is proportionally longer than one would expect on
a man, and the head is large even for this being’s vast body.
It is lizardine with a muzzle full of vicious teeth, but the nose
is stretched out from the face and hangs in a dangerous point. The
creature stoops slightly, and his an incredible reach, its over-long
arms almost touching the ground.
Again it roars; yelling something in the such an old dialect of
the draconic tongue that Elias struggles to understand it. “Thieves!”
it yells. “Robbers! No longer will you defile Ashardon with
your touch! Die!” With that it strikes out with one of its
long arms, catching Arvan in the chest and casting him over thirty
feet across the chamber and into the far wall; the impact very nearly
kills him. Everyone freezes (apart from Raza who hides behind the
curtain). This is not a battle that anyone believes they have a
hope of winning.
Elias steps forward. “We are not robbers!” he says badly
in the creature’s language. “You are!” the creature
cries, grabbing Elias by the waist and picking him up. “I have
dealt with your friends and now I shall deal with you!” Elias
tries to explain that they are nothing to do with the other party.
That they are on a quest, and only want to reach the Maw. The creatures
snorts, says that the unworthy may not even approach the Maw. Then
he catches sight of the ring on Elias’ finger. “Where
did you get this!” it demands, snatching at Elias’ fingers
and breaking three of them in the process. “You are a thief,
you stole this – stole this from Ashardon!”
Elias denies theft, but the creature tightens his grip. Nicos tells
Elias not to worry, that he’ll toast this thing no problem.
Elias, rather impolitely, tells him to stay where he is and not
move. The creature demands the ring. Elias shakes his head. “It’s
the only link I have to my faith,” he says. “Have you
ever heard of the Order of the Wyrm?” The creature says that
he has not. “They are a religious order of which my father
and I were a part. He wore a ring like this. We lived in a Keep
built on the ruins of a place like this, I thought they were Hadradan,
but they must have been much older.”
“Yes,” the creature nods. “There were other temples.
There were nine. One for each face of the Ninefold Dragon. Io. Oh,
Io! Why do you continue to punish me?” The creature’s
eyes turn glassy for a moment as though he tries to remember something
in the deep, distant past. Then he shakes his head, as if returning
to the present and regards Elias again. “You are not a servant
of Io!” He tightens his grip. Elias says that he is, he says
that he is on a quest to liberate his home from a vast and terrible
menace, a dragon that kills other dragons.
The creature roars. “Now I know you are lying! Dragons do
not make war on other dragons – not since the dragon wars!
Give me the ring now!” It tightens its grip. “No!”
Elias screams in pain. “If you do not give it to me, I will
kill you,” the creature says matter-of-factly. “Are you
willing to die for it?” Elias says that he is, he says that
it is the only link he has to his family and his faith. The creature
pauses, and considers this for a moment. With a thought he drops
Elias heavily to the floor, and regards him and the rest of the
group with enquiring eyes. He speaks to each of them, but it soon
becomes obvious that only Elias can understand him.
The creature gestures and a small crystal globe hovers into the
room. Now when the creature speaks, the globe flashes, translating
his words into a language they can all understand. “I am Dralcarnus,”
the creature says. “I am the guardian of Ashardon, I am the
cursed and the forgotten,” he looks at them slowly. “You
are an orc,” he says to Arvan, and pointing to Brack continues,
“you are one of Moradin’s children. I dwarf. Is your kind
still at war with the empire?” Brack says he doesn’t know
what Dralcarnus means. The guardian repeats himself – the empire
of the elves of course! Ravenna says that elves are all but a myth
in the modern world. Dralcarnus cannot accept this – there
must always be elves, he says. They are the friends of all dragons
everywhere. Dralcarnus collects his thoughts, and looks at Elias
and the others. It soon becomes apparent that he has never seen
humans before, and does not know what they are. “How long have
I been here?” he ponders.
The group talks with Dralcarnus for over an hour. After his initial
violence, the guardian seems very eager to talk to them and find
out what has been happening in the outside world. He animates one
of the statues from the next room and sends it for tea for his guests
– Dralcarnus explains that he has complete control over everything
in the temple, but he can never leave its boundaries. He digs up
a potion and heals Arvan and Elias, as he speaks about this place.
When the group mentions the information they found from Eurikas,
he tells them not believe everything they read. Dralcarnus knows
of Persepharial the Gold – he calls him a dragon who betrayed
his race. He does not expand on his statement, choosing to begin
a different tale.
Long ago. he is not sure how long in relation to the present, there
was a terrible war of the dragons that was ended by the god Io.
The children of Io (the dragons) were very grateful and gave thanks
to their god. Io never supported a priesthood, never granted spells
or abilities, but he tolerated the worship. Pseudo-priests called
the Custodians of Corcordance were born to organise the worship,
some were dragons but many were elves and of other races. As the
millennia passed, there was division among the Custodians. Io, Dralcarnus
explains, is the Ninefold Dragon – he is all aspects, all alignments.
Some Custodians wished to create a temple for each facet of the
ninefold dragon. Nine temples were built. Ashardon was the temple
of pure Order, the temple that Elias speaks of in Tibrai was the
temple of Law and Evil. The Custodian at Ashardon was Dralcarnus’
mother, the sapphire dragon Llysallian (there’s a statue of
her in the next room). Dralcarnus says that his father was Graykan,
a troll and a king. Io considered the nine temples to be unnecessarily
partisan – he thought that they might spark a new Dragon War,
so he destroyed them, and created a magical barrier around them
through which no dragon could pass. The Custodian, or another in
Dralcarnus’ case, was damned by the act to be the Guardian
for all eternity. A punishment for their arrogance in the face of
their god. Dralcarnus goes silent at this stage, pondering the unponderable,
as Elias begins to realise that somewhere under Raith Keep is a
guardian like Dralcarnus, but one that has been tainted by evil.
“So why are you here?” Dralcarnus asks. The party explain
their own private motivations, and that they are here on Narramac’s
quest to find a tooth from the maw of the oldest of dragons. Dralcarnus
looks at them, cocks his head and then laughs long and raucously.
“A tooth from the maw of the oldest of dragons? The Maw of
Io? A tooth from the Maw of Io? One of Io’s teeth.” The
joke is too much for him and guffaws loudly. Needless to say, the
party are anxious to learn quite what is so funny. “One of
Io’s teeth? Well, you can try and persuade one of them to go
with you, but I don’t fancy your chances!” After some
cajoling, Dralcarnus explains that the Teeth of Io are his god’s
honour guard that dwell in the Maw and protect him. They are enormous
prismatic dragons of vast might. Dralcarnus finds all this very
funny.
He says that he does not believe they are worthy to be shown the
Maw, but they may be able to convince him. In the meantime, he will
take them to the library and show them about the Teeth of Io. Ravenna,
knowing that Dralcarnus is a sorcerer, asks if the guardian would
be able to teach her some spells. He says that he would in return
for information and stories of the outside world. He leads the party
back the way they came and out into the shell of the tower. The
door that was magically barred now stands open. An imp hovers in
the air above them.
The imp is called Jot, and is Dralcarnus’ familiar. Jot says
that five individuals fled the temple when Dralcarnus left to attend
to the party. Dralcarnus kicks himself, saying that he forgot to
finish with the interlopers. He got one of them, though, he assures
the group. In any case, he doubts that they would have the nerve
to return. He leads the party through the door and into the rest
of the temple. The décor is much the same as they have already
seen. There is a magical device that pumps a continuous fresh water
into the temple, he shows them meetings rooms, shrines, six cells
(he doesn’t use them), fountains of fire, fountains of ice
and finally the library. It is not as vast, or as impressive as
Eurikas, but the books are very old and contain knowledge that has
been widely lost to the rest of Urova since before Hadradan times.
By cross-referencing several items and asking pertinent questions
Dralcarnus works out that he has been trapped in Ashardon for the
last 4000 years (16,000 seasons!). When asked how he has managed,
he smiles and replies that he has “tried to keep himself busy.”
Suddenly Dralcarnus is alert. There is movement, he announces. Another
intruder? Or is the one he thought slain still clinging to life?
Dralcarnus storms from the library with the party in hot pursuit.
He leads them through a labyrinth of corridors to the impressive
Hall of Dragons. They enter into a huge transept supported by dozens
of columns. The bas relief of a great dragon is entwined around
each column. Dralcarnus gestures, filling the room with light. At
the end of the transept is a throne too large for even Dralcarnus,
and lying in front of it, barely moving is the young boy Ravenna
recognises as of the other party. “Get him!” Dralcarnus
commands, as the carvings animate and a dozen dragon like automatons
slither down the transept toward the boy. He looks at them and screams,
covering his head as they bear down upon him. Dralcarnus looks impassive
and quite murderous. Ravenna touches the guardian gently and says
that maybe they could learn something from the child. Dralcarnus
nods, raises his hand and the dragons stop, inches from killing
the boy. Dralcarnus and the party stroll over.
The boy is terrified, but identifies himself as Misgon. He is an
apprentice wizard and member of the party with Whisper in it. He
took a book from the library which he now returns and begs the party
not to kill him. Ravenna suggests that Misgon’s punishment
should be to stay with Dralcarnus and tell him stories, until they
return. Ravenna promises to come back once they have completed Narramac’s
quest. Misgon looks a little worried at this prospect, but isn’t
really in a position to say no. At this point Dralcarnus announces
word from Jot. Another intruder has entered the temple! He flies
off to the tower – “Bring the boy!” he commands.
At the tower, Jot says that they must have hurried past the intruder
because she hasn’t come back this way. Dralcarnus curses and
heads back the way he came. After a little searching they discover
Drasha (no Whisper as they thought) concealed in the water fountain.
She is dragged out, sword in hand and stairs at the group. She sees
Misgon, asks if he is all right and then commands (quite imperiously)
that Dralcarnus and the party let him go.
Dralcarnus lets Ravenna do the talking. She shakes her head and
says that Misgon is to stay with the guardian as his punishment.
Because Drasha let Ravenna live when they first met the sorceress
will be kind and let Drasha leave in return. Drasha shakes her head.
“Misgon is my responsibility. I am not leaving here without
him. I am not leaving him here.” She is defiant, in a noble
sort of way, and says that unlike the others she will not turn her
back on the boy. She says that she is sorry for the cowardly actions
of the rest of her party – she doesn’t agree with them,
she doesn’t like them and if she had known she would have tried
to stop them. Drasha is a couple of seasons older than Ravenna and
is dressed in obviously fine (though practical) clothes. Despite
the fact that Misgon is obviously of peasant origin, she seems to
have a great deal of protective, sisterly affection for the boy.
She says that she doesn’t want to fight because she knows that
she would lose, but she will if they do not let Misgon go. He is
an innocent in this affair, and he should not be punished.
Ravenna is intractable until Drasha offers herself as a hostage.
She will stay in his place in they let Misgon. She tells Misgon
to leave, to forget about the quest and the others and to head for
Vrex Cross. Ravenna has a counter proposal. No-one wants Misgon
running around on the Maw on his own. He can accompany the group
back to Korvast, protecting him while they travel to civilisation.
Drasha agrees. Dralcarnus also agrees. He is impressed at his guests
solution to a problem he would only have solved through violence,
and says that he will lead them to the Maw, if they want.
The group’s answer is obvious, and so Dralcarnus leads the
six, Drasha and Misgon, to their destination. En route Ravenna tells
Drasha of their adventures, and brags that they are ones who escaped
Castle Northmeet. Drasha seems impressed, and by her words appears
to indicate that she knows Colharn of Northmeet quite well. In return,
Drasha tells them of the other four members of the group. The leader
is called Deerkor, a wizard and a warrior from Kannalas who is a
servant of Galahyde of Black and not a nice man. Josepp is a ranger
from the Úngorn forest, although why he is how he is, is
a mystery to Drasha. The hobbit is a malicious cleric of Fortune’s
Favour called Kismo, but by far the worst is Whisper. She is an
infamous assassin and by the most dangerous person Drasha has ever
met. Deerkor seems to keep her in check, but barely.
Soon they arrive at the Hall of the Maw (which looks a lot like
the Hall of Dragons) and ends in a couple of vast wrought-iron gates.
Beyond that is the Room of Preparation, which they duly enter. A
smashed statue is al that is left of the nine-pointed star that
once dominated this room. Behind it is a chasm in the ground. Dralcarnus
gets rather misty-eyed at this point, thinking of how close he is
to his god, but that he can never step through the portal. Ravenna
gives his knee a good hug.
Dralcarnus creates a shimmering blue portal in the chasm. He says
that the portal will remain open for about ten hours. When it fails
he can create another instantly, but time does not work the same
way in the Maw. As long as the portal is running all is well, but
once it is extinguished even a delay of seconds in the temple could
quite literally be years in the Maw. He wishes them luck. He says
he is retiring to listen to his music. Drasha and Misgon accompany
him as and the party jump into the portal.
The six are catapulted along a shimmering blue tunnel, coming to
rest in the silvery void of the astral plane before being sucked
into another portal and deposited at their destination. They emerge
into the bottom of a canyon in a dimly lit rocky landscape. The
rocks on the ground are slightly red in colour, the sky above them
is a deep iridescent purple. The quickly clamber up the side of
the canyon and survey the scene. The rocky land stretches for miles,
but there is no horizon and so they can see all the way to the edge.
The land is a great island, floating in this bizarre purple space.
The ground is divided into hundreds of canyons as though an enormous
plough had been raked across it. Far in the distance they can see
what appears to be a gigantic dragon’s head, its mouth gaping
at them. This is their obvious destination.
However, as they are about to depart they hear something from the
portal, as if someone else had stepped through. They return to the
top of the rise but can see nothing. Elias sends his owl down to
get a closer look. Suddenly five magic missiles streak out of nowhere
and impact into the familiar, nearly killing it. It returns to its
master, Arvan quickly laying on hands. As the party try to decide
what to do next there is a flash of magic and the air around them
erupts into a fireball. Snowy, Raza and the owl agilely leap clear
while Nicos stands gleefully drinking in the power as the flames
course harmlessly over him. Arvan and Ravenna are put down by the
explosion and are close to death. The group quickly finds cover.
They are in a serious situation. Although Brack and Raza have made
sure that Arvan and Ravenna won’t die they are still unconscious,
and an enemy (probably Deerkor) is out there somewhere. Raza says
they should try to go back through the portal and use Dralcarnus
healing potions to revive their friends. Nicos says that he might
be able to help. Calafax grants a spell that can heal in the right
conditions but it is dangerous. If they don’t want his help,
that’s fine because he was planning to climb back up to the
top and moon the mage with fireballs. Elias says they need whatever
help Nicos can give, and so the fire cleric explains. There are
six elements to life (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Life Energy and Death
Energy) – six elements, six moons, six gods. All wounds can
be seen as an imbalance between the elements. He can heal by channelling
fire directly into the body. However, he channels too much he can
injure or even kill the person he is trying to help. Nicos is very
keen that everyone remembers that Elias is the one who told him
to go ahead and try it on Arvan. He doesn’t want to be responsible
for toasting the druid.
As it is, Nicos is successful. Arvan awakes to find the cleric
pouring flame directly into his veins and is only momentarily homicidal
while the party explains what is going on. Nicos turns his fiery
touch to Ravenna and soon between him and Arvan everyone is at least
walking. Nicos is very pleased with himself, and decides that he
will use this spell again and again. Ravenna shakes her head taking
in stock of the situation. Deerkor is a wizard, not sorcerer. He
has cast several spells including magic missile, fireball and improved
invisibility (he didn’t become visible when he cast his offensive
magicks). He only has a finite amount of power. Ravenna thinks that
he will attempt to avoid further confrontation. Everyone else hopes
that she is right.
Prodigal Wizard
Index | Previous Session
| Next Session
|
