“Do you think they’re all gone?” Jax asked warily.
“Who?” Erin asked.
“The rest of the spirits.” Jax replied.
As Mithrodar had died, the curse on Castle Scarwall had apparently been lifted.
They’d heard a rush of wind and wailing from throughout the Castle as the
spirits who had been trapped there for so many centuries were at last freed.
Even the shadows in the corners seemed slightly less dark. “If those spirits
are gone,” Jax continued, “what about the spectres, haunts, and other undead?
Are they gone, too?”
In answer, Tomas strode to the door from
which several spectres had tried to attack, only to be driven back by the holy
light shining off Erin’s sword, and threw it open. The small room inside was
empty, with a dark stairway leading down. “Looks like these at least are gone,”
he stated.
“So what now?” Shadow asked, staring
down at the puddle of ectoplasm that had been the Chained Spirit who had
controlled the spirits of Scarwall. It all seemed a little anti-climactic.
“We go after the sword,” Erin answered
firmly. “Count Andachi’s ghost told us Serithtial was somewhere beneath the
Star Tower, so that’s where we have to go.”
“Easier said than done,” Nat snorted.
“We haven’t found a way to get inside it.”
“He said it was below the Star Tower,” Tomas said, eyeing the stairs he’d
found leading down to the first floor. “Maybe there’s a dungeon level that we
have to get to, that would have an underground passage to the Star Tower.”
“I doubt that,” Jax stated, ever
practical. “In case you forgot, we’re on an island in the middle of a lake – if
they’d tried to dig out lower levels to this place I don’t see how they’d keep
them from flooding. Did we search the entire donjon? That’s the only part of
the Castle that connects to the Star Tower – there must be some way in from
there.”
“There was that dark room, where the
mummy was – nobody went in there,” Nat mused.
“Asyra did,” the Shadowcount stated
confidently. “I’m certain she would have seen an entrance if one existed.”
“Possibly not, my lord,” Asyra said in a
gravelly voice. Everyone started – they weren’t sure they had ever heard her
speak before. “I was looking for dangers, and did not search the room
thoroughly.”
“There’s also that blockhouse on the
roof of the Star Tower,” Nat continued, “the one with the skull on it. We
didn’t see any doors when we
flew over, but maybe there’s a hidden way in there.”
With at least a couple of options to
explore, the group returned to the donjon. Laori led the way into the warded
structure, temporarily disarming the Forbiddance
magic that prevented all but Zon-Kuthon’s faithful from entry. They made
their way back to the spot where they’d fought the mummified Prelate and his
giant servant, and into the private chapel beyond. The room was cloaked in shadows,
and not even their Light spells could
shed more than dim light within the room. A black marble statue of Zon-Kuthon
stood at the far end of the room, and Laori knelt before it to say a short
prayer. They noticed that she had wrapped her spiked chain tightly around one
thigh, and twisted it as she prayed.
Jax shuddered, and turned away from the
disturbing sight. He examined the statue and the walls behind it carefully.
These walls were the outer walls of the Star Tower, and were made of some
smooth, dark stone unlike anything Jax had seen before. But he saw no signs of
any passage. “Nothing here,” he reported.
“What do you mean?” Erin asked in
surprise. “It’s right behind you.” Jax spun, and squinted at the spot she’d
pointed out, but saw nothing.
“Yeah, I see it,” Tomas chimed in,
making Jax feel even more incompetent. “Let me check it for traps.”
Confirming that it was safe, Tomas
pushed the hidden panel open. Beyond, their lights revealed an odd-shaped,
empty room, with metal doors on the east and south walls. “We’re in!” Laori
said excitedly. “I’ll go first.” She took a confident step across the
threshold, then screamed in pain as she was violently thrown back against the
statue.
“Crap! We forgot about the other Forbiddance spell,” Nat cursed. The donjon had originally been
protected by Zon-Kuthon to prevent infidels from entering, but when Mandraivus
had captured Scarwall, he’d added a second layer of magic to trap any non-good
creatures inside. Apparently entering the Star Tower counted as leaving the
donjon, and the way was blocked – at least for some of them.
“I don’t see a problem,” Erin said from
inside the Star Tower. She’d stepped through the doorway with no issues. Jax
tried to follow her, only to be thrown back even more painfully than Laori.
“Shit!” he said, struggling to his feet and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“I didn’t think I was that bad!”
Wren stepped across the threshold and looked back at Jax with a pitying
expression. Tomas followed, looking a bit smug. Nat scrunched his eyes shut and
hurried through the door, letting out a big sigh of relief as he passed
unscathed.
“Here,” Shadow said to the others, “grab
hold of me.” Once again, he used Dimension
Door to carry the rest of the group the ten feet into the next room.
Tomas was already examining the doors in
the new room. “These are adamantine!” he exclaimed in surprise. The door to the
south was locked, but the one to the east was ajar. Inside was a small,
triangular cell, with adamantine manacles dangling above ancient bloodstains on
the floor. “What’s this?” he asked, bending to examine something on the floor,
but he quickly drew back with a shudder. “Ugh! It’s a chunk of old dried
flesh!” He examined the room carefully. “Whoever they kept prisoner here, they
sure didn’t want them to escape,” he observed, “and I don’t see any sign of
secret doors.”
They turned their attentions to the
southern door, but Jax and Tomas’s best efforts couldn’t pick the lock. “Let me
have a go at it,” Shadow said. He muttered some words, and then seemed to grow dark
and insubstantial, until he was nothing more than a shadow. He slid under the
door, then reemerged a moment later and rematerialized. “Just another cell,
just like the other one,” he reported.
“Hang on a sec – what’s that?” Tomas
suddenly said, moving to the west wall. Running his hands over the stone
surface (the interior walls of the Star Tower seemed to be ordinary stone, not
the otherworldly stone of the exterior), he smiled, then gave a push. A secret
door slid open, revealing another room beyond. This had clearly once been
someone’s chambers, with a small table holding a wooden bowl and cup, and a
pile of bedding on the floor. But it appeared that the former resident had been
brutally murdered, judging from the bloodstains soaked into the bedding and
splattered on the walls. The room contained another door, which Asyra pulled
open without hesitation; beyond was a tiny passage and another door. Asyra
opened it as well. This revealed a larger room, with no furnishings and a stone
staircase leading down into darkness.
“I guess we go down, then,” Jax said as
everyone gathered at the top of the stairs, but Tomas was surveying the layout
of the room with a skeptical eye. “Hang on,” he said thoughtfully. “Something’s
not right.” He was consulting his mental map of the areas they’d explored.
“There’s still an area of this Tower we haven’t been in – right over
there." He pointed to the eastern wall, which had an odd little angle to
it. He and Jax combed the area carefully, but couldn’t find any sign of another
secret door.
“Maybe the way in is back where we came
in,” Erin said, and began retracing their steps. Back in the room with the
cells, she examined the northern wall carefully, then smiled. “I was right!”
She thumped the wall, and yet another secret door slid open. On the other side
was another small empty room, but this one had a staircase leading up. Climbing
the stairs, Erin found herself in a dark, rectangular room. One wall held a
carving of a skull with spiked chains dangling from its eyes – exactly like the
image they’d seen on the outside of the blockhouse atop the Star Tower. She
examined the walls carefully, but found no sign of secrets. Asyra had followed
her up the stairs, and aided in the search. When she reached the carved skull,
she leaned forward and lovingly kissed the skull. To Erin’s eye, the action was
more than just reverent – it seemed just a little … erotic. Her stomach turned
a little as she hurried down the stairs to rejoin the party.
With Laori leading the way, the group
descended the stairs, into the heart of the Star Tower. They led to a large
chamber, filling the entire interior of the Tower. Its walls and floor had a
strange organic texture, appearing almost like black mummified flesh streaked with
glistening swaths of ancient blood. Four pillars carved to look like coils of
entwined arteries and spinal cords supported the ceiling, with nails and
surgical tools embedded in these pillars at key and painful-looking positions. In
the center of the floor before them was a ten-foot-diameter open well, entirely
filled with thick bluish mist. The group cautiously spread out around the room,
senses on alert for any threats. Wren shuddered as she brushed against one of
the walls; they were not just stone carved to look organic – they were actual
mummified tissue.
Suddenly, they heard a high, reedy voice
speaking directly into their minds. “At last! Long have I awaited your arrival,
faithfully serving the Midnight Lord as temporary caretaker of this sacred
place until its promised protector should arrive. Now the mighty Zon-Kuthon has
fulfilled his prophesy, that a true believer should come one day to take on the
honor and glory of serving as this Star Tower’s immortal curate. I see that two
of you are followers of the Midnight Lord – which of you is to take my place?”
They scanned the room in panic, but could see no source for the strange voice.
Laori turned to Shadowcount Sial and
gave a formal bow. “You are my superior in the faith, and my leader in the
Brotherhood. This honor must be yours.” The Shadowcount’s face went pale, and
Jax, sensing trouble, took a big step back from Sial.
Shadowcount Sial was clearly flustered.
To buy time, he asked “What is the urgency of filling this position now?”
“I have served the Midnight Lord for
eons,” the voice responded. “When Castle Scarwall fell and Kazavon could no
longer protect the Star Tower, Zon-Kuthon sent me to keep it safe from
desecration, until a new curate would arrive to be inducted into service. And
now, you are here. The curate is the living soul of this Star Tower. The curate
watches over the Star Tower and lives until the End Times — or until violence
necessitates a replacement. The curate is
the Star Tower. It is an honor even to be considered for the role, and to be
selected and reject it is to spit in the Midnight Lord’s eye.” Now everyone backed away from the two
competing candidates for the role of curate.
Sial seemed to recover his composure,
and drew himself up. “My acolyte, Laori Vaus, would be an excellent choice for
this honor. I have a different charge from the Midnight Lord – a very urgent
task that requires the full efforts of one of my experience and talents.” Wren
had to stifle a snort at that statement – in her opinion, Laori had been far
more help to them than the Shadowcount. But she wasn’t getting involved in this
debate.
“Do you accept the honor, young lady,”
the voice asked.
“So are you refusing the offer?” Laori
asked Sial pointedly, and he paled again at her implication. “I can carry out
our orders just as well as you can.” Her hand was on her spiked chain, and
Asyra reached for her own. Everyone else tensed, expecting a fight at any
moment, and mentally choosing sides should it become necessary.
Then Laori’s shoulders slumped. She
dropped her head for a moment, then raised her face to the ceiling. “My body
and soul belong to Zon-Kuthon, and I will serve him however I am called,” she
declared. “I accept this honor, and hope to be worthy of it.”
Everyone stood staring at the spot where
Laori had stood for some time. At last Shadowcount Sial broke the silence.
“What a lucky girl! I’m sure she’ll be a wonderful curate. Our comrades in the
Brotherhood of Bones will be so proud of her!” Wren spun on her heel, biting
back her thoughts. Shadow glared at Sial, jaw clenching, then spat at his feet.
Sial ignored the insult. “So it sounds
like we have to go down there, huh?” he said hastily, moving to the lip of the
well. The mist, which had appeared spongy and almost solid before, now swirled
like blue fog. “Maybe I should send Asyra first.” When no one responded, he
pushed on. “That settles it, then – Asyra, go.” The kyton nodded to her master,
then flew into the mist, quickly disappearing from sight. Long seconds passed.
“Well … um … I suppose I should go next?” He waited, but no one tried to
dissuade him. Taking a deep breath, he hopped over the lip of the well and fell
into the mist.
And fell. And fell. And fell. He felt
like he fell for miles, descending deeper and deeper into the earth. He
remembered that the lore of the Star Towers said that Zon-Kuthon had driven
them into the very core of the planet, into the Dead Vault that served as
Rovagug’s prison – would that
be where he emerged, to face the Rough Beast himself? Was this his punishment
for refusing the Midnight Lord’s offer to become his curate?
Before his fears could escalate into
full-blown panic, he stopped falling. He was still flying, but he floated in
utter darkness, and utter silence. The air was cold, and he shivered from cold
as well as fear. “Asyra?” he called softly. No response. “Asyra – come to me!”
he commanded mentally. She did not come.
Suddenly a light appeared, and Shadow
dropped into view, a Light rock in
his hand. One by one, the rest of the party appeared. With the benefit of their
lights, Sial could see that they were in an empty chamber, its outline the
black stone of the Star Tower. Some thirty feet below was a floor polished to a
reflective sheen, while above them was a ceiling of roiling blue mist.
In one facet of the room (directions
were meaningless now) was a stone door, and they descended and opened it. It
led to a narrow tunnel of rough stone, taller than it was wide. The tunnel’s
walls looked moist, but were strangely dry to the touch, being covered with a
sheen of glittering mineral deposits. The twisting turns of the tunnel made it
impossible to tell what was more than a dozen yards ahead. Jax started to lead
the way into the tunnel when he heard a clatter of stone behind him. He spun
around, to see that Shadowcount Sial had summoned a trio of Earth Elementals.
“Since Asyra doesn’t seem to have made the journey …” the count explained
meekly.
Jax turned back to the door, and led the
party quietly down the twisting tunnel. After some time, they came to a fork:
one branch of the tunnel veered sharply right, while another continued forward
before also curving right. “Which way?” Jax whispered, and heads jerked to the
right, so he continued on down the narrow side passage.
Some fifty feet in, he rounded a corner
to find himself face-to-face with a pair of huge, alien-looking creatures. At
first glance they looked like mangy, furred giants, but it only took a second
glace to tell they were unlike anything else he’d ever seen. They had an extra
arm growing where their elbows should have been, given them four arms. And
their mouths opened vertically at top of their skulls, turning their entire
heads into a single oversized abyss of teeth.
Jax let out a cry of alarm, and the
creatures did the same. Shadow was right behind Jax, and he blasted the nearest
creature with a Disintegrate spell,
but it had the bad manners not to turn to dust. Erin elbowed past Jax and
stabbed her sword into the belly of the first creature. The narrow tunnel
forced the things to approach in single-file, which was (hopefully) to the
party’s advantage. Unfortunately, the narrow twisting tunnel also prevented
Tomas from getting a clear shot. Taking advantage of their Fly spell, he zipped over the creatures’ heads, and they were so
shocked that they didn’t even try to hit him as he flew past, pivoted in
mid-air, and fired an arrow down at the one in the rear; unfortunately, it
clattered harmlessly off the floor at its feet. It responded by flinging a
javelin up at the flying archer, piercing his leg. It’s mate snapped at Erin
with its vast mouth, but she narrowly dodged its teeth, and parried one pair of
claws, but the other pair slashed through her armor.
Jax reached out and touched Erin,
casting Heroism to aid her in the
fight. Seeing how easily Tomas had flown over the creatures, he decided to do
the same, so he could cast the same spell on Tomas. Unfortunately, the things
were not taken by surprise a second time. As Jax tried to fly over their heads,
they swept up their unnaturally long arms with inhuman speed. Jax was exposed,
and their claws ripped open his abdomen as he flew, spilling blood and guts
down onto his enemies. His vision blurred, and he saw the floor rushing up
towards him …
Jax
never hit the floor. Instead, he found himself standing in a vast courtyard.
The space was filled with countless gravestones, obelisks, and monuments, with
the walls of unfamiliar buildings enclosing it. Overhead, an ominous full moon
hung overlarge in a dark sky. Silent figures moved about among the monuments,
gliding towards the outer boundaries of the courtyard.
Suddenly
a voice broke the silence. “You! I know you!” Jax turned, and saw a ragged figure
rushing towards him. There was something familiar about him, but Jax didn’t
recognize him. “You are one of the Chosen One’s followers!” the man exclaimed,
and with that Jax realized that this was the mad prophet of Groetus they had
encountered so many weeks before. But that wasn’t possible, was it? That man
had died – died of Blood Veil as Jax had watched.
But
that didn’t seem to have dulled the prophet’s zeal. “Is he coming?” he asked
looking around expectantly. “Is the Chosen One coming behind you?” He pointed
up to the malevolent moon. “My lord Groetus has persuaded Pharasma to allow me
to linger here, that I may greet the Chosen One when he arrives! If you are
here, then surely he must be coming soon! Oh joy!”
Jax
backed slowly away, but the man clutched at him, fingers grasping at his
clothing. But wait! Where was his armor? And his sword, Vencarlo’s sword? Why
was he wearing this gray robe? What was this place?
Wren struggled through the crowded tunnel to a place behind Erin, where she could provide healing when needed. She cast Bless, but then her gaze fell on Jax’s body, lying lifeless and gory behind the two huge creatures blocking the tunnel. A glance was all it took to tell her he was beyond healing, and she fought back tears – there would be time for tears later. Now was time for vengeance.
Vengeance came in the form of stony
fists, as two of Sial’s Earth Elementals appeared out of the solid rock on
either side of the creatures (he’d held one back as a personal bodyguard). They
slammed into the unnatural giants, adding their blood to the pool that had
formed around Jax. Shadow cast Ennervation
at the lead creature, weakening it greatly. Erin called upon Iomedae to Smite Evil, and launched into a flurry
of attacks. The creature blocked one, then another, but the third stabbed up
into its throat, and it collapsed with a gurgle.
Erin stepped forward to confront the
second creature. Surrounded by Elementals on two sides and Erin in the front,
it lashed out, slashing one Elemental with its claws and clamping its jaws onto
Erin’s left arm. The Elementals continued pounding on it, and Shadow favored it
with the same Enervation he’d given
the other, but it managed to parry all of Erin’s blows, and Tomas’s arrows
continued to bounce off the walls and floor. Nat finally struggled far enough
into the tunnel that he could blast it with Magic
Missiles, and then one of the Elementals swung a rocky fist into its skull,
sending teeth and brains flying through the tunnel.
As the last enemy fell, everyone rushed
to Jax’s side, but it was obvious that he was beyond help. “If only I’d been
able to get here right away,” Wren murmured, choking back a sob. “But there
were too many people in the way.”
“Can’t you cast Raise Dead?” Erin asked, but Wren shook her head. “Maybe tomorrow.
But I didn’t pray for that spell today. What was I thinking?” Erin put her arm
around her friend, telling her not to blame herself, as the others tried to
decide whether to go forward without Jax.
Shadow, however, seemed unmoved. He
sauntered up to the dead rogue and grinned down at him. “Dude – you’ve got to
stop running up to the front!” he chided, then dramatically pushed up the
sleeves of his robe. “I’ve got this,” he said confidently, as the others looked
at him in astonishment. He muttered an incantation, waved his arms, wiggled his
fingers, then thrust his hands down dramatically at Jax, palms upraised as if
he were an orchestra conductor calling for a mighty crescendo. “Rise!” he
commanded, and to everyone’s amazement, Jax did just that. His wounds closed,
the color returned to his skin, and his eyes fluttered open. “Damn,” he
whispered as he looked around in confusion, “I just had the weirdest dream.”
“How … how did you do that?” Wren
stammered.
“Ah – it was nothing,” Shadow said with
obvious false modesty. “Just a little spell I picked up. Just one little side-effect,” he added,
turning to Jax. “This is only good for 24 hours. After that, you’re dead again.
But I’m sure that’ll give Wren enough time to get her act together.”
(In truth, Shadow – and Jax – had been
very lucky. When they had searched the donjon’s library the day before, they
had found three Pages of Spell Knowledge that
allowed Shadow to instantly acquire new spells – and one of those spells had
been Temporary Resurrection.)
With Jax restored (at least for the
moment), Tomas’s attention returned to something he’d noticed while they were
fighting. The tunnel they were in ended in a 15-foot wide pit leading down into
darkness. A faint warm breeze flowed up from the pit, carrying with it strange
mineral scents. A set of wide handholds ran down the nearest side of the shaft
– a crude primitive ladder, but from the distance between holds, one sized for
a creature three times the size of a man. “What do you make of this?” Tomas asked,
pointing to the pit.
“These things live in the Darklands,”
Nat replied. “Although they’re not natives. They’re called Gugs, and legend says
that Rovagug brought them here from some other reality. I think these are the
‘Children of Rovagug’ that thing upstairs was talking about. I’m guessing that
shaft leads down deeper into the Darklands.” At the back of the party,
Shadowcount Sial shuddered, wondering again just exactly where they had come to.
“Do you think that’s where we need to
go?” Wren asked, leaning gingerly out to look down the pit. It appeared
bottomless.
“Not now,” Tomas replied. “Not until
we’ve exhausted all other possibilities.” With that, Wren dispensed some
healing and then the party retraced their steps, returning up the side passage
and taking the other fork. Sial’s Elementals were in the lead, so that they’d
bear the brunt of any ambush. The tunnel wound on through many more twists and
turns, but at last it opened out into a vast cavern. The rank odor of decay,
filth, and wet fur hung in the air. The far end of the cavern was filled with a
broad lake of black water that stretched off out of sight into the distance.
Few ripples disturbed its surface, giving it the appearance of a massive sheet
of polished obsidian. Far out in the water, a single point of light glowed just
above the surface, a bright star with a radiance that illuminated several stony
islands.
However, the near shore of the lake was
clearly inhabited. Four crude domed hovels dotted the shoreline, made
from rough stone blocks mortared together with a nasty mix of mud and hair,
each nearly twenty feet high and with a large arched opening into its dark
interior.
As Erin stepped out of the tunnel, she
heard a distant singing, a woman’s voice faint but clear. It called to her, and
she felt drawn to it and she moved into the cavern almost as if in a trance.
But her appearance in the cavern did not go unnoticed, and gugs appeared in the
doorways of each of the huts.
Nat had been expecting trouble as soon
as he saw Erin move forward, and he reacted instantly, conjuring an Elemental Wall of fire in front of the
doors of the pair of huts on the right. The fire did not discourage the gugs
however, although it burned them badly as they emerged from their hovels. The
first shook off its blisters and gashed Erin with a claw. The second stepped
through the flames, only to collide with one of Sial’s Earth Elementals. With
nowhere to stand without staying in the wall of fire, it kept moving, although
both Erin and the Elemental missed their attacks of opportunity. Two more gugs
came lumbering out of the huts on the left; one missed, but the other also
slashed Erin with its claws, and the paladin found herself surrounded by giant
aberrations.
Sial’s two elementals (he’d again kept
one back for personal protection) hammered at the gugs, but only one managed to
hit. Sial watched the combat, but withheld any action for now (making Wren
wonder, again, why they’d let Laori go). Jax, having learned his lesson, made
himself Invisible. Shadow took a more
proactive approach, and cast Chain
Lightning that crackled and popped between the four gugs. Erin again prayed
to Iomedae to Smite Evil, and stabbed
her blade forward, piercing the gug’s heart. She took a step back just as a
blast of holy fire engulfed her enemies, as Wren called down a Flame Strike that killed another of the
beasts.
But just then, another gug appeared from
the farthest hut. It was female, dressed differently from the others, and carried
an odd, snake-headed rod. It paused behind the farthest back of its mates, made
some arcane motions, and an Unholy Blight
of cold, greasy darkness engulfed the party.
The PCs earned 10,667 XP, putting them
at 354,702 with 425,000 required for Level 15.
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