Endurance, 16 Carnivale 2000
Lycaon is still on the cold moor land, reflecting over the corpse
of his murdered brother (what was his name again? Gary?). Carith
appears not far away, having teleported out of the half submerged
temple with the fallen body of one of her zombies. Lycaon pays little
attention. Meanwhile inside...
Revda, Gazahi and the Scribe are facing off against the remaining
constructs. These eight foot tall stone nasties move extremely quickly
and are continually running around the room and switching opponents,
building up momentum as they move and dealing more damage. With
Clara gone and Jirokichi fighting on the enemies' side, things look
slightly bleaker than usual.
Jirokichi, now animated as a stone construct, races to attack Revda.
Meanwhile, the others press on bravely. Sensing they need help,
the Scribe sends a swarm of unseen servants to try and get Lycaon's
attention. The stone bodies of the creatures are resistant to weapons
and it is taking a long time to bring them down. It looks a bit
dicey and Gazahi is dropped and then brought back again by the Scribe.
Outside, Lycaon is completely oblivious as to what is going on.
He is approached by one of the barghests who recently attacked the
party. It is the female: Lurin. With the death of Galcagarm (oh,
that was his name!) she has a gone into heat and makes an extremely
unsubtle play for Lycaon's affections. She says that he is now the
alpha male, and the tribe is his. She wants him to go with her and
take charge. Or take charge and go with her. The choice is his.
Then Lycaon notices something strange. Something is digging a trench
in the moor land. It looks as if it could be an arrow pointing at
the temple. The invisible something is now adding exclamation marks.
Realising that this is a message from the Scribe asking for help,
Lycaon bundles to their aid.
Lycaon pounds into the fight and helps to destroy the rest of the
statutory. However, his help probably wasn't required by the end.
The Scribe is now completely out of magic and Gazahi looks like
he's fallen into a mincer. Then there is the problem of the stone
Jirokichi. The Scribe thinks that he may be able to reverse the
effect, but only after a period of intensive study.
Lycaon grapples the stone Jirokichi and holds him still while he
is bound. He is then cocooned in a stone shaped prison and left
there for the night. His scratchings little more than an irritant,
and certainly less irritating than Jirokichi would have been in
the flesh.
The party discusses the situation and decide to open the heavily
warded door, just as soon as the Scribe is able to cast protective
magics on Revda. They aren't sure what's in there, but what the
hell? The Scribe requires eight hours of rest. While he does so,
Carith and Gazahi study the walls of the chamber. They speak of
a hive city, and an ancient war. If the Scribe is correct, and this
chamber predates even the existence of Tharkis; they can only guess
what that war might be.
Silence, 17 Carnivale 2000
Lycaon takes advantage of the lull in activity and rejoins Lurin.
He says that he is ready to take charge of the tribe and asks her
to lead him to it. Lycaon is carrying the ankhs that Galcagarm used
against him in combat, but he is not wearing the cloak. He felt
there was something dodgy about that cloak.
There are six remaining barghests in the group. Lycaon attempts
to learn their names discreetly, and tries not to give away that
he can't remember who these people are. Lycaon's brother Galcagarm
is dead, as is Morramor who was killed by Lord Revda. Of the others,
Kaan (who was battling Gazahi) and Allyung (who was battling Carith)
are both grievously wounded. It will take them days to heal. Allyung
also seems distinctly less charismatic than he used to. Snerl and
Krasp sport very minor wounds. Lurin and Grom were burned by Clara's
eldritch blast as they fled the scene.
Seeing a powerful and unwounded Lycaon carrying the ankhs and with
Lurin is the equivalent of seeing him wearing Galcagarm's dressing
gown and in bed with his wife. The other barghests are quite happy
to accept the fact that Lycaon is in charge. Lycaon tells the barghests
of the mission he and the party are on to identify and find a cure
for the plague. He commands the barghests to help the party.
This does not go down well. Kaan in particular is vociferous in
his opposition to this idea. Lycaon thinks that if he wasn't badly
wounded then he'd try his luck immediately; but the fight would
be far from fair. Kaan's opinion (mutely shared by the others, Lycaon
thinks) is that the barghests need souls, and that some of Lycaon's
companions have them. Lycaon says that the plague is coming and
will wipe them out as well in they do not help. He promises them
souls in their travels. As a group they agree to do as they are
told.
Back at the temple, the Scribe breaks his reverie and returns Jirokichi
to the flesh. Then he loads Revda with as many protective magicks
as possible. Revda goes over to the doorway to Varnae's prison and
(without knowing what will happen, who Varnae is, or even a clear
idea of why the party is doing this) he breaks the seal. Numerous
curses and explosions play of his body, all of which are resisted
by the magical protections of the Scribe and Revda's status as a
death knight. The doorway is open and a passage leads into darkness.
Revda enters.
He descends into a flooded chamber. Soon the water ripples and something
breaks the surface. It is a writhing tentacle. The tentacle sways
this way and that, and chitinous plates draw back revealing an eye
that stares at Revda. A second tentacle emerges, that also sports
an eye; and a third, and a third eye. Revda believes that he knows
what this creature is.
A vast beholder, ten feet in diameter rises out of the filthy water.
But this is not ordinary beholder. Revda recognises that it is undead.
The skin has been mummified quite expertly. Putrid water drains
from its orifices as the creature floats into the air and bears
down on the death knight.
Revda announces who he is, and that he has freed Varnae. The beholder
asks whether he did this by accident or design, but doesn't wait
for an answer. Varnae floats out into the main chamber where he
meets the rest of the party. Perhaps it is the creature's undead
state, the many millennia of its imprisonment or just the fact it
hasn't seen anyone in a while, but it is not immediately murderous.
The Scribe is delighted to find a "living fossil" with
details of time gone by, and Jirokichi (sensing something even more
powerful than the party) decides to be its best friend.
For the first time, the party is greeted with a creature too powerful
for them to attack and kill. They treat Varnae with respect and
he likes it. The Scribe badgers him with questions, but Varnae wants
to ask questions, not answer them. He wants to know how long he
has been imprisoned, but the current calendar is meaningless to
him. He becomes frustrated.
The conversation with Varnae is lengthy, but these are the highlights.
Varnae was imprisoned because he was simply too powerful to be easily
destroyed. He was a great emperor in a city of beholders that exists
where the swamp plains of the Varn now stand. The hive city was
on the coast originally, so all land to the east of this point (including
the city of Tharkis) is unknown to him. It didn't exist. This cell,
was part of the vast city. It has been enchanted to survive the
ravages of time. The rest of the city crumbled, leaving only Varnae
and his prison.
So how long ago are we talking? Varnae doesn't recognise the familiar
taste of taint that hangs in the air. He knows nothing of Karatath,
nothing of the Enceinte and nothing of the Great War. His civilisation
not only predated the Karatath's rise to power more than two thousand
years ago, it also predates the taint of evil seeping into Southern
Iourn. He is, potentially, tens of thousands of Urovan years old.
So who imprisoned him? Varnae speaks (with some anger) of The Shadow,
a dark and malevolent force of chaos that directed its lust for
conquest toward the Hive. Wave upon wave of Demons of the Pit (his
words) crashed against the Hive. The force driving them was a Prince
of Darkness, with great affinity over the undead - a talent he could
have stolen from the beholders.
Seeing the feathered cape of many colours fills Varnae with rage.
This cape would have been worn by his gaoler. It seems Lycaon stole
this cloak at some point in the past, and then had it taken off
him by Galcagarm. Varnae destroys the cloak in a rage.
Who was this Shadow? Simply asking this is pushing it somewhat.
The Shadow has gone by many names. The most common in Varnae's time
was the Ram Prince, or Orcus.
Varnae rummages around the in the detritus. He levitates the strangely
deformed suit of armour beneath him, giving himself a torso, arms
and legs. Then be starts to examine the walls. He is intimately
familiar with the writings on the walls, and the implication is
that before it was his prison this could also have been his home.
The walls are covered with truly ancient magical rituals. One of
which could be used to summon the beholder god, Gzemid. Varnae spends
particular time on that one.
Varnae is very interested to hear about the political make up of
Tharkis, particularly the powers and limitations of Grelka. When
told of the plague he doesn't seem too concerned. Perhaps he thinks
that he will be immune.
Crossing the
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