The Ingaran Adventures
Episode 49
“Wight Girl”
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Lord Issic: Half Human, Half Gold
Dragon Warrior
Lady India: A gypsy Bard/Shadow Dancer
Lord Phaidon: A Tamer of the Beasts
Cthaat: A young warrioress
Lord Alexander Maximus: The Gauntlet of Athena
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The Time:
Autumn, Drauj 7, 6th year, 8th Age
The Place: Talishar – The main occupation of Talishar's residents
is fishing. There are a small handful of hunters as well, and a few farmers
have cleared land to the south for small crops, although the forest is so thick
and fertile, it is a constant struggle to fight off the encroaching woods that
seek to reclaim the cleared spaces.
Alexander, Issic, and the others were resting in a large room, and India
and Phaidon were settling down for first watch. Cthaat curled against Issic.
Alexander used what was left of his divine power to heal those that needed it.
As Alexander fell to sleep at last,
"Me neither," said
"I hope we are getting close to cleansing this place. It gives me
the creeps."
"Me, too."
The temple statue moaned and groaned in the night, the noises of it settling,
swaying in the cold, watery depths. The cold seemed to deepen slightly after
about three hours, even as the temple continued to moan and groan unceasingly,
and it seemed to
Phaidon nodded. "Sure, he and Cthaat can take the next watch."
"As you say," said Issic.
Phaidon had Zagreus get some rest and he and
Sleepy, Phaidon mentally ordered his panther, <"Zagreus, please
stay up with Alexander. Wake me if you sense any trouble."> Zagreus
woke and paced the room silently... in the dark... in the night. Phaidon smiled
at Alexander and fell back asleep.
Alexander Maximus spent his watch in prayer with the dark Athena placed
in front of him. It wasn't long before he started hearing scratching noises
in the walls. He took a torch and walked over to the wall where the sound was
coming from. His torch sputtered for a brief second, nearly going out, then
burned as bright as usual. The scratching continued. The scratching sound moved
along the wall, slowly, horribly moving downward. He then heard the scratching
beneath the metal floor, somewhat dampened, but still there. As Alexander followed
the sound, it started approaching the dark Athena. Slowly it moved toward it;
inexorably, maddeningly, it came closer and closer to it.
Alexander moved the statuette to see if the sound would follow it. The
sound stopped for a second, then continued, following the Dark Athena. The sound came closer
and closer, finally reaching the location of the Dark Athena. Alexander cast
claiaudience/clairvoyance so he could
see under the floor, but he saw nothing under the floor but corpses. Then he
heard a loud scream, which woke everyone, then silence. The dark Athena seemed
"happier", somehow...
"I am not sure," said Alexander.
Cthaat said, "Since we are all awake, would be imprudent to ask if
anyone had any food?"
Alexander cast create food and water, creating a ham, some pita
bread, boiled eggs, and cheese.
Issic grunted. "Are you sure that you want to create food in a warped
place like this?"
"I trust the food sent to us from the gods to withstand the evil
of this place better then any earthly food."
Cthaat divided the food among everyone and started eating.
Alexander said, "There was a scratching from the other side of the
wall, it seemed to be looking for the dark Athena. It found it and then something
screamed and now the Dark Athena seems.... pleased. I will pray for answers
while everyone eats."
Alexander sat down to pray and cast divination. "What has
occurred to please you so, Athena?"
An answer screeched down into Alexander's mind, as if the words were carried
by owls, and each owl screeched a different syllable in turn, creating in its
entirety, words and sentences... "I am pleased with your prayers and I
killed the Thing That Hunts Through Steel. Continue on thy journey."
"As you command." Alexander had never
heard of anything called the Thing that Hunts Through
Steel. He told the others, "The Dark Athena is pleased with our prayers
and progress. She slew a beast that hunts through steel to protect us and now
wish us to continue."
Phaidon shared his food with Zagreus and petted the shadow panther while
they eat. The panther's fur seemed to wisp as Phaidon pet the panther. Phaidon
finished eating and said unto those gathered, "That was excellent! Thank
you, Alexander... and Athena. Let us continue on our journey, then."
Issic gathered his and Cthaat's belongings and stood at the door waiting. Alexander
gathered the food that was not eaten and gave some to each of them to carry.
"Is not the heart where we are supposed to go?" asked Phaidon.
Issic said, "We've only done one sacrament. We need the other two
before we get to the heart."
Alexander agreed. "We need to find the other rites before we get
to the heart though."
Issic said, "Let's go West."
"Well, perhaps they are to the west, then?" asked Phaidon.
Issic nodded. "Instinct speaks to me and points me in that direction."
"Sound good to me; Athena speaks though your instinct often, Issic."
"Excellent," said
To the west, they passed through a down-sloping corridor. The corridor
ended in another chamber. Paintings on canvas and framed in gilt wood covered
the walls here. A lush red carpet with swirling streaks of
black and green covered most of the floor. There were three doors on
the western wall. There were ten paintings in all on the walls. Each were
four feet tall and eight feet across. Each painting bore a small label on a
brass plate with a title.
The first painting was "The Building of the
The second painting was labeled, "The Finished Temple." No
one was around. The
The third said, "The First Revel." At a huge bacchant party/orgy
around the
The fourth said, "Sacrifices for the Demon God". Dozens of
living sacrifices awaited their cruel fate.
The Fifth said, "The Blood hunters." Mortal cultists rode nightmares
and dire lions, dragging kidnapped victims behind them from ropes.
The sixth said, "Sekeren". The Glabrezu sat on his throne. It was recognizable as the demon
that killed Issic.
The seventh said, "Charmachnar, Master of the
the eighth painting was labeled, "Sussinst-ir,
High Priestess." A bald half-elf priestess in a long gown posed with a
staff topped by a demonic head.
The ninth said "Lytaros Fel and Distania." These two were pictured in the act of love.
The tenth said, "Ochremeshk." This was a painting of the demon
god himself, standing in his other planar dimension, surrounded by tormented
souls. The resemblance between the
The pictures made Alexander think of their friend. "I wonder what
Zografos is up to right now."
"Well," said Cthaat, "we seem to have three doors."
Alexander said, "I think we should take a closer look at these horrific
paintings. This looks like the demon Phaidon just killed. If these are all portraits
then we may have to fight all these creatures."
"We may," said Cthaat, readying her sword.
"I wonder if the paintings have something to do with the three doors?"
Phaidon examined the paintings. Phaidon walked over and looks closer at the
sixth painting. "That sure looks like ol' crusty
head alright."
"Let's go the middle way," said
Issic opened the middle door, his sword in hand. Beyond the middle door
lay a lavish bedchamber. A red carpet with swirling streaks of green and black
covered the floor. Upon the rug rested a canopy bed, a chest, a dresser, a
wardrobe, and three padded chairs. On the north and south
walls hung huge brass-framed mirrors. The western wall sported a small
font. The grinning demonskull within it slowly filled
it with a tiny trickle of blood.
On the canopy bed lay a nude woman, shackled
to the headboard. She was sobbing, but she looked up with a start when Issic
entered. Her mouth opened in a wide "O" and she screamed in mortal
terror at the sight of him. Her body shook as she screamed and the tears streamed
down her eyes. Issic jumped over and clamped his scaly hand over her soft mouth.
His claws closed around her jaw and she struggled against him. She was bound,
and could do little but kick ineffectively at him with her dainty, bruised feet.
"Just calm down and we will see what the situation is," growled
Issic. Alexander stood next to Issic and said, "Calm down. We are not
here to harm anything but demons."
The naked girl tried to point at Issic with her shackled hands, trying
to show Alexander that she saw him as a demon... she thought Alexander was fooled
by an illusion or something and could not see him as he truly was.
Alexander smiled a comforting smile. "He isn't a demon, he just looks
like one." Realization hit the girl that Alexander was a demon too,
one sent to torment and tease her. Alexander raised his hands and used his
divine power to calm her down.
Issic leaned down and his voice rumbled in a low tone, "If I were
a demon I would not waste my time talking to you. I would simply eat your heart
and soul."
She trembled but she calms down. Issic and Alexander could still see
the terror lurking behind her eyes, eyes that had seen far too much terror for
a mortal girl to bear.
"Are you going to scream?" asked Issic. The girl shook her
head. Issic released his clawed hold on her mouth, saying, "If you do
I will gag you".
"Tell us what your name is," ordered Alexander.
The girl said, "They keep calling me 'Distania',
but that is not my name. B-but I cannot remember my name anymore, just as they
said I would forget it."
"Cthaat, take care of her," said Issic. Cthaat started to undo
the shackles, but Alexander stayed her hands and shook his head. He didn't
trust this girl. In his mind he told Cthaat, <Stop. That name is from one
of the paintings.>
Issic growled, "I really don't think she is a threat....yet."
"I think they are trying to awaken something in her."
Alexander asked the girl, "Whose name is Distania,
then?"
"I don't know whose name it is." She started crying and sobbing.
"Don't let them make me do it with those things anymore! NO more! Help
me, please!"
Issic spread his wings and anger crossed his face, and his reptilian eyes
glared. "That is a promise!" he declared.
Phaidon, still in the room with the paintings, kept an eye on the room
and the other doors while they talked to the woman.
Issic asked the girl, "Do you remember anything?"
The girl cried and whimpered. "They made me fuck the dead! Horrible
things in the next room! Over and over again. Make
it stop! Please make it stop!"
Issic exclaimed, "That will not happen again!"
Alexander felt sure this girl was a demon trying to fool them. "We
will protect you from the demons but we need you to tell us everything you know
about this place."
Issic whispered to Alexander, "Can you tell if she is pregnant?"
Alexander shook his head. "I can check a couple of things but will
not know for sure."
Issic asked the girl, "Do you remember anything of before you were
in this place or how you got here?"
"Yes, I remember! I lived near here, and was on a boat on the lake.
Are we still in Talishar? The demons said we were, but I don't know anymore
if they lie or tell the truth."
Phaidon, in the adjoining room with the pictures, yelled over his shoulder,
"Ask her how often they come to the room and how they enter the room."
The girl heard the ranger and yelled back, "They came through the
door you came through!"
Phaidon thought to himself that they were probably about due for a visit.
Alexander wondered at this. "How often do they come to this room?"
he asked.
"They come every night! Ten at a time."
She trembled and the tears redoubled.
Alexander just thought of something. He asked the girl,
"Is it okay if I wash your wounds and bandage them?"
Instantly, she shouts, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She had heard such
offers of kindness from her captors. Instantly she was suspicious again of
Alexander and his horrible, demonic companion. Issic clamped his hand over
her mouth again and growled into her ear, "If you want us to help you,
you have to help us. Just don't yell anymore."
"What if I let Cthaat here do it?" asked Alexander. She nodded
at Alexander, terrified of Issic. Alexander noted the blood dripping down her
arms from the shackles and said, "You need to have your wounds taken care
of if you are to come with us away from this place." He handed Cthaat
a bottle of holy water and some bandages, telling her to clean the wound with
them. Cthaat put some of the water on the bandages, and mopped up the blood.
The girl screamed in mortal terror, and smoke rose up from her burning flesh.
She screamed and cried more, her eyes wide open in terror as she looked at the
burns appearing on her arms where the bandage touched her. Alexander whipped
out his Pilum and slashed down with it to kill the
girl. Issic, however, blocked Alexander's kill.
"We need to do an exorcism not a death," said the half dragon.
Alexander telepathically spoke to Issic. <She is a demon, Issic, holy
water is burning her!> The girl's eyes did not leave the burn marks on her
arm. Her lips trembled and tears fell down her cheeks.
Issic roared back, "She has been tortured and screwed by demons and
undead. That just shows that she is tainted! That just shows we should release
her, that is for sure!" Alexander realized that
Issic could be right. He knew that the victims of vampires could be burned
by holy objects, even though they had not yet succumbed to vampirism.
Outside that room, Phaidon watched the northern most western door open.
He pulled back the string of his bow and waited. He whispered over his shoulder,
"Door opening." He saw the dead eyes of something horrible peeking
out of the door. They were wild, frantic eyes burning with malevolence, and
leathery, desiccated flesh was drawn tight across the bones of the owner of
those eyes. He put an arrow in its beady little eyes.
In the bedroom, the girl heard the opening of the horrid door and she
cries out, "My lovers!" She started laughing/crying hysterically,
her voiced tinged with madness.
Phaidon continued firing arrows as more and more dead things filed into
the room. "Maybe she is possessed by this 'Distania'?"
yelled Phaidon, wanting to solve their mystery so that they would come out here
and help him fight his ghoulish foes. They were now coming out of the door
to the south as well. "Guys! It is big and ugly
and there is a whole mess of them, one down!"
Alexander said, "Keep an eye on her, Cthaat." The Ingaran motioned
to Issic. "Issic, you and I stand on either side of the door so only one
can come in at a time!" The girl was laughing hysterically, definitely
mad now, as Alexander took his position. He yelled at Phaidon, "Phaidon,
fall back and keep the arrows coming"
"Don't let them love me with their cold lips!" cried the girl,
despite the gag. Cthaat kept a hold of the girl, keeping her gagged as well
as possible. The girl struggled and shook, obviously frightened out of her
wits.
The battle outside with the undead wights was gruesome. Issic lept
out and helped Phaidon.
Issic slew three in mere seconds, laying waste to them utterly with great,
sweeping strokes of his green sword. The undead men sounded like wood being
chopped as he hacked them apart. Three more were cleaved asunder by the half
dragon.
Alexander summoned up divine power and attempted to turn them. He pushed
his divine aura outward to encompass the undead horde, and three of them were
utterly destroyed, turning to dust in that instant,
and a resounding boom echoed through the entire temple as the room filled with
divine power. "Abominations begone!" shouted Alexander. Issic continued to pound
them, flinging them across the room like broken dolls.
In a short time, Issic, Phaidon, and Phaidon's panther Zagreus had killed
all the undead. Cthaat told the girl they were dead. The girl shook her head,
"I know! They died long ago, yet they still love me!"
"That's alright," Issic said. "Bring them on! I have
been refreshed and renewed!"
Alexander said, "Phaidon and Issic, check the room they came out
of; I will try and figure out what to do for the girl."
Phaidon walked carefully into one of the wights'
rooms. The rooms of the Beloved of Distania were
once lavish rooms with silk pillows and plush carpets, but now fallen to a terrible
state. Corpses lay about the tattered pillows and finery. The walls were painted
in a horrible, painful mixture of black and red swirls, spirals, and bursts.
There were no exits but for the door they went in. The other room to the south
was essentially identical to the northern room.
In the bedroom, Cthaat stroked the girl's hair as she calmed down. Issic
gave Cthaat a cloak so she could hold it up over the girl. Issic then smashed
that damn blood-font with his mace, hoping the cloak would protect the shackled
girl from debris. The font shattered in a spray of debris, and the flow of blood
stopped.
Alexander prayed over the girl, "Athena Commands the Evil that holds
the girl to be GONE!"
The girl screamed in pain, and her body doubled up in torture, trying
to get into a fetal position. Phaidon winced when the woman screamed. He continued
to stand guard at the door. The girl cried. Issic quietly asked
Alexander touched her with the holy energy that surrounded him, trying
to drive anything that was possessing her away. She calmed down, and shimmering white,
holy energy surrounded Alexander. Echoing BOOMS resounded throughout the
Alexander asked the girl, "Are you okay?" She nodded her head,
twisting her wrists in the shackles, renewing the flow of blood. Arcs of white
light leaped off of Alexander as he bent to take the shackles off. Phaidon noticed
the light behind him and turned around to stare in awe for a few seconds before
going back to guard duty.
Issic put a clawed hand on his arm, stopping the motion. "Try the
holy water first."
Alexander did as Issic asked. The holy water burned her again. She twisted
and turned more, kicking her feet in pain. "You're killing me! Why are
you torturing me? You demons!" The white energy
around Alexander vanished.
Issic pushed Alexander back. "Get away and let
Alexander nodded.
Phaidon whispered over his shoulder to Alexander, "Maybe she has
a heritage she is unaware of. That is why they took her."
Alexander focused his energy to read the girl's mind. He detected two
minds present in the one body. He determined that one mind had a very high
mental strength and the other was average. Then, inexplicably, he was blocked.
He could not read her thoughts.
Alexander focused his energy again, protecting the girl from evil. Alexander
thought he really needed to get out of this horrible temple. White light surrounded
the girl, she calmed, and started breathing more normally.
Her eyes shift from blue to a very soft brown color. "I feel safe,"
the girl whispers.
"Are you okay?" asked Alexander. She shook her head in the negative.
"Do you think you are going to be okay?"
"I can't live with this," she sobbed, and the tears start to
well up again. "With what I have done."
"You have not done anything. They have forced you to do things and
if you come with us we will make sure everything is okay."
"My wrists hurt," she complained.
"Try the holy water again," Issic growled.
Alexander shook his head and undid her bonds, taking care to keep the
cloak over her. The girl shivered and hugged the cloak around her nudity.
Issic grabbed the holy water-drenched cloth from Cthaat and touched the girl
with it. It made a damp spot on the girl.
Alexander frowned and pulled a spare toga out of his pack and gave it
to the girl. She seemed afraid to dress in front of the strangers, despite the
fact that they all had seen her naked and strapped to a bed. "Guys,
out of the room while she changes. Girls call us if you need us."
Phaidon moved so Issic and Alexander can leave the room. Alexander went
into the painting room to wait for the girls to call them back in. He sat down
in the corner of the room and put his head in his hands. Issic refused to leave.
He turned the other direction, but he would not leave Cthaat and
"There is a secret door on that wall somewhere," she said, looking
at the toga.
Cthaat told the men they could either come back or turn back around, as
the case might be. Cthaat saw Alexander's position and told
When Alexander looked up there were tears on his cheeks. "But I almost
killed her. If Issic hadn't stopped me I would have."
She put her arm around Alexander. "But you trusted Issic enough
not to fight against him."
"Yes, but I still didn't believe him. It worked out this time but
what about the next, or the next? What if I had not been able to convince the
gods to give Issic his life back? That girl would be dead at my hand!"
"We are in a horrible place. We must sometimes make hasty and horrible
decisions. It takes both of you, I think. Why do you think Athena brought
Issic back? That is the horrible thing about Demons and devils. They are masters
of deceit, and they will lead people to make the right decision at the wrong
time. Trust me. I know."
"You are right. But it seems to me that we are always in horrible
places and I wonder if they are not taking a toll on us all."
Issic chimed in. "And what if Hell freezes over? I guess we just
get ice skates and kill the demons there still!"
Alexander smiled at Issic. "You're right; I cannot let this stop
me from doing what needs to be done. Lets get on with it then so we can leave
this horrible place for at very least a less horrible one."
Phaidon walked up and put his hand on Alexander's shoulder. "As
long as we are all together, no evil can succeed. We are together for a reason,
it takes all of us to win the day."
Issic returned to the bedroom and started going through the girl's things.
He searched the dresser in the room and found silky, sheer clothing, and a lot
of cosmetics and perfumes. Phaidon followed Issic into the room and searched
for the secret door mentioned. He found the secret door quickly, but it was
locked. Phaidon pointed out the secret door, "It is locked."
Issic checked the chest in the room. It was also locked.
Alexander had gathered himself together and said, "Lets
make it a point to search everything in this room and the other two as well."
He checked under and around the bed. Phaidon helped, and he found the keys under
the pillow. He opened the chest. Inside, the chest contained a cloak, a demonskull
talisman, and a bag with twelve pearls in it. Phaidon showed the items to Alexander,
"Wonder what these do?" After Alexander took the items, Phaidon looked
for a false bottom in the chest, but found none. Phaidon asked, "I wonder
if those are like those pearls the vulture-men used on us?"
Alexander determined that the cloak was a cloak of etherealness. The
demonskull talisman allowed the possessor some luck. Alexander
gave the cloak to
"They are used to buy things with!" said Alexander. "Who
wants this thing?" He was pointing to the skull. Cthaat said, "I
will take it if no one else has the courage."
"Be careful with it," said Alexander as he handed it to her.
She took it carefully and pinned it onto her cloak.
Alexander Maximus tossed the bag to Issic. "For you hoard,"
he said. Issic deftly caught the bag.
"Are we ready to proceed?" Phaidon used the keys to open the
secret door and...