Yam ibn Saud - Demigod of War
(Mark van Dyk)
Kruzi - Epic Soulknife Assassin (Dawn)
Abdul Aziz - Epic Priest of Yam ibn Saud (Chris Bradley)
Ankany - Epic Monk (Allen Myers)
Summer, 1 Nemed, 6 VIII
Yam ibn Saud took one of Iss'ul's prize assassins, Kruzi, one of his finest
priests, Abdul Aziz, and his most honorable monk from his Oriental kingdom to
Acheron for mock combat and training. While there, Yam ibn Saud was
contacted by his master spy/assassin, Iss'ul.
Iss'ul told the demigod that he had lost contact with an Azrael
city, one called Ad Damman. Ad Damman, a city with a population of
10,937, was known for its tolerance of foreign ways. Iss'ul returned to
Lamapacher, and Yam ibn Saud and his three mightiest allies teleported to Ad
Damman. There they found desolation. Ankany spotted a note
and gave it to Yam ibn Saud. 
Reading the note, Yam ibn Saud
contacted Kaantar the Dragon.
He asked the dragon if anyone had entered the Desert. Kaantar replied that
someone had, and he had destroyed that someone. Yam ibn Saud asked Kaantar
to bring him the bones of this person. Kaantar did so, and Abdul Aziz
spoke with the dead spirit of Shirkuh el Kafid, the seer of Ad Damman. The spirit of the seer told about Khemian
merchants who came in black ships to sell enormously popular items composed of
dreamstuff, mined from the very dreams of a deity, or so claimed the
merchants. The dream globes rendered the owners complacent, especially
toward reptiles. They were loaded onto Khemian black ships, which were now
manned by Yuan Ti, and taken to a Temple of the Slumbering Serpent, in Hades.
While talking to the spirit, Yam ibn Saud had a growing suspicion that Iss'ul
was working to betray him somehow. Yam ibn Saud asked the spirit if it
wanted to return, or if it wanted to go on into the afterlife. The spirit
said he wanted to serve Yam ibn Saud, be it in life or in death, as he might see
fit. Yam ibn Saud ordered Abdul Aziz, the epic priest, to resurrect
Shirkuh el Kafid, the seer of Ad Damman. The priest did so and Yam ibn
Saud ordered the seer to serve Kaantar the Dragon. Yam ibn Saud dismissed
the dragon, who then took Shirkuh into his mouth and flew back to the capital of
Azrael.
Yam ibn Saud teleported his party to
the glooms Hades, also called the Gray Waste, where evil springs eternal amongst
endless apathy and despair. Before them stretched dull gray lands.
The earth was gray, the sky was gray, and all color vision was subdued to
blacks, whites, and grays. There was no sun, no moon, and no stars, just a
bleak gray radiance that came from the sky. There was also a spiritual
grayness at work. Emotional feelings were even subdued, a loss of all
hope. The sounds of rending claws, clashing weapons, and screams echoed
across the entire layer, for this was the battlefield of the Blood War. Yam ibn
Saud's outsider nature kept the place from infecting him, trapping him
here. The others, hopefully, would be strong-willed enough to avoid
entrapment by the plane.
They saw herds of nightmares, and,
among one herd, a night hag. The night hag sold them information about the
location of a Temple of the Slumbering Serpent. Soon enough, they were at
the Temple. The Temple, shaped like a coiled serpent, was colossal, over
396 square miles in area, 19.8 miles on a side, and nearly ten miles high.
Ankany spotted the door - in the mouth of the serpent, ten miles above the
surface of the Wasteland. They flew to the mouth. Within stood two
adamantine golems guarding the door. Upon the landing of the party, the
golems activated and lurched forward. Hiding invisibly by the door stood a
half-dragon marilith known only as Number Two. She waited patiently.
Her outsider nature also protected her from the despair of the plane, so she
held onto her hope and in her confidence in her abilities. She was one of
Dispater's elite "god-killers."
The golems moved slowly, and were easily avoided, but when their fists did pound
home, they did an extreme amount of damage. Yam ibn Saud, Kruzi, and
Ankany quickly found out their weapons were useless against the golems, and
Abdul Aziz discovered the same for his spells. He did have a powerful
scimitar that he gave to his god. With this powerful scimitar in hand, Yam
ibn Saud went to work, keeping out of harm's way and, slowly but surely, brought
down the golems, for this sword was none other than Tel
Kaffim, the Sword Malicious. Tel Kaffim was the sword once wielded
by the desert hierophant Zenghi Kal'at, who battled the efreet and carved out a
kingdom amidst the heat of Elemental Fire, and owned estates in the great City
of Brass itself. Tel Kaffim was the sword that was in the hands of Jabar
Timour as he battled the Slaad Lords of Limbo in the War of Oglu, where a
portion of Limbo was torn asunder and placed in Heaven. Tel Kaffim was the
sword of Abdul Aziz, who battled single-handedly an entire army of gnolls that
sought to control the Citadel of Khalil, the Iron Palace of Yam ibn Saud on
Acheron, defending the palace for his god during an absence. Tel Kaffim
was now the sword of that god, the sword of Yam ibn Saud, and with it he
defeated the powerful Adamantine Golems of the Slumbering Serpent.
As Yam ibn Saud's sword rang out
against the adamantine golems, Ankany, Kruzi, and Abdul Aziz tried to make their
way to the door. Ankany made it first. It was then that Number Two,
the half dragon marilith, struck. Her six arms slashed out with her
longswords, longswords forged in the fires of Hell, made of green Baatorian
steel (although they appeared dark gray on this colorless plane), and the monk
was cut down in an instant. Kruzi attacked, hidden by an invisibility
spell, but the marilith lashed out with her powerful tail and nailed the
assassin. Kruzi, Iss'ul's favorite, who, upon the order of Iss'ul, had
slain a Demon Prince in its lair, was being crushed in the tail of Number
Two. Number Two wheeled around and eviscerated Kruzi and flung her bloody
pieces across the Mouth of the Serpent.
Although one Golem had fallen, Yam
ibn Saud saw a superior foe in the half-dragon Marilith from Hell. He ran
in and pulled out his frost brand. His pair of scimitars clashed against
the six swords of Number Two, and the ringing of swords was loud and
furious. As skilled as Dispater's assassin was, Yam ibn Saud was the god
of war, and he rent her asunder. As her essence was propelled back
to Hell, she cursed Yam ibn Saud and vowed revenge, even as she cringed at the
thought of Dispater's punishment. As Abdul Aziz healed Ankany the Monk and
resurrected Kruzi, Yam ibn Saud brought down the final adamantine golem.
They approached the door, which took
on a face and spoke to them, telling them to leave. Yam ibn Saud was not
impressed. He ordered the door to open.
"I cannot," said the door.
"Are there any other
doors?" asked Kruzi.
"Turn around and look out,"
said the door. Kruzi did so. The door said, "What do you
see?"
"A black and white sky,"
answered Kruzi. That was all that could be seen, as they were standing ten
miles in the sky.
"That is all I can see as
well. I have no idea if there are other doors."
"What about the interior layout
of this temple?" asked Yam ibn Saud.
The door snorted. "Do you tell
your doors what lays within the house when you leave? Neither do the
owners of this house. I have no idea what the interior is like."
"Will you let us in?"
"I cannot. The High Priest
told us of your coming and forbid me to open to you, as though I would
anyway."
"Who is this high priest?"
"A reptile-man of great
power."
"Indeed," said Yam ibn
Saud, suspicion growing in his heart.
"Will you open for my
companions? You were not forbid to open for them."
"Indeed, I was not, yet I cannot
open for them either. I have neither legs nor arms, and cannot open myself for
anyone. I must be opened and closed by others."
"If they open you, will you
resist?"
"No, I cannot do that
either."
Yam ibn Saud nodded to Abdul Aziz,
who pulled open the door. The door opened easily. The party passed
through. The door yelled at Abdul Aziz, who passed through last,
"Were you raised in a barn? Close me!" Abdul winced and
closed the door. Yam ibn Saud considered the marilith who had lurked
invisibly, and spontaneously created a dagger that could sense invisibility and
warn him when anything invisible was near.
Walking down a long, gray corridor
they came to a prismatic wall, the first source of color they had seen.
Abdul Aziz knew something of these walls, and they did not have all the spells
necessary to bring it down. Yam ibn Saud consulted his Sage Skull, who
suggested that he return to the Night Hag and buy the necessary spells from her,
for she was in the business of trading power. They collected the magic
swords of the marilith and teleported to the hag. She gave them shrunken
heads that had the needed spells within them. Returning to the prismatic
wall, they cast the spells in the necessary order, throwing in the shrunken
heads as needed. The magic wall was soon brought down.
Yam ibn Saud cast Arcane Eye
to spy out the paths ahead. The colorless halls took on a decidedly
reptilian look, for it was a round hall with scales. Abdul Aziz and Kruzi
suspected they were inside a living creature, but could find no sign of
sentience. Soon the magic eye spied out an enemy, a skeletal samurai with
two gargantuan mummies.
The samurai was none other than Usagi
Toturi, the Death Knight Samurai of the Hare Clan. The Hare clan
emphasized mobility and flamboyant maneuvers, and was known for their Way of
the Hare technique, the trademark wild leaping attack of the Hare
clan. This particular samurai was descended from the first Hare, a brave
ronin who risked his life fighting the armies of Iuchiban. In life he was
a most honorable samurai, but was tricked by Larbius
the Gelugon and made into a horrible death knight. Under the command
of the death night was a pair of mummified demigods, demigods slain by the
samurai, and risen into mummies by Larbius (via tricking the followers of said
demigods). The chamber also housed seventeen gargantuan heads of living
serpents that hissed and moved around, their bodies trapped in the walls.
Yam ibn Saud, also known as
Kensushuki, Shogun of Kozakura, decided to try diplomacy instead of
combat. He understood the code of Bushido and hoped the death knight
remembered it as well. He sent a summoned elemental of earth to carry a
message to Toturi. Toturi agreed to parley. In talking with the samurai,
Yam ibn Saud discovered that the High Priest, a lizard man of some power, was
controlling the death knight by threatening to destroy his wakizashi, part of
Toturi's ancestral daisho, and had also promised the death knight a return to
life. Yam ibn Saud also learned that the High Priest had a Phthisic, a
repressed neurosis wrenched from the subconscious mind to walk the world in
living, breathing flesh. This particular Phthisic had its origin in Klia,
an extremely powerful psion of Yam ibn Saud's acquaintance. This, in Yam ibn
Saud's mind, confirmed the hand of Iss'ul in this plot. He wondered why
Iss'ul wanted to resurrect the Slumbering Serpent of the Yuan Ti, but he figured
he could discern the reasoning later.
Yam ibn Saud also learned that the
High Priest assumed Saud would have a soft spot for reptilians, based on his
acceptance of a lizard man as a cohort long ago. He learned that the
Marilith they fought earlier was supposed to kill him, and was actually a
"god-killer". The samurai did not approve of the High Priest
consorting with devils in such a matter, and generally did not like working for
the High Priest. The samurai also told Yam ibn Saud that to awaken the
Slumbering Serpent the High Priest had to sacrifice 10,000 people, thus the
conquest of Ad Damman. The High Priest had obtained the dreamstuff
globes from merchants in Khemt. Yam ibn Saud also learned that the High
Priest intended to betray his own master. This further confirmed Yam ibn
Saud's suspicions.
Yam ibn Saud promised he would return
the death knight's wakizashi and give him high rank in his armies if the death
knight would serve him. The death knight agreed. He led them to one
of the heads, and its mouth opened. Within the mouth of the serpent, a
stairway yawned beneath them, and they went down to the Holy of the Serpent, the
grand chamber of the Sacrifice.
A hundred Yuan Ti sat, chanting, in
front of a black and white fire of intense size and heat. Beyond the fire,
on a tall dais, stood the High Priest. He was holding aloft a human, and a
night hag, Tila, had cut open his belly and the blood was draining out onto the
altar. Behind them, the humans of Ad Daman, men, women, children, stood in
line, chanting, mesmerized. Agla the Night Hag was taking their souls as they
climbed the stairs to the altar. Also there was the horrific gray
Phthisic. Yam ibn Saud ordered the attack to center on the Phthisic, and he
ordered the capture, not the kill, of the High Priest.
Yam ibn Saud was surprised that the
High Priest was not Iss'ul. No matter, the lizard man priest must simply
work for Iss'ul, and was doing his bidding.
Kruzi, Iss'ul's best assassin, flew
in invisibly and threw her mind blade at the Phthisic. The Phthisic
prepared to throw six quickened twin intensified detonations at the
assassin, blasts that would have surely slain her. But Usagi Toturi leapt
into action and crossed the room, the fire, and the Yuan-Ti in a mighty leap,
and rained blows down upon the Phthisic, spoiling her concentration on the
powers. She backed away quickly, and avoided the blindingly fast
Ankany. He tried to land a quivering palm upon her, deciding
correctly that that power was more likely to succeed than his vorpal
strike. However, the quivering palm failed. After another
attack by Kruzi, the Phthisic teleported out of the temple, escaping into
the Gray Waste.
The Samurai then attacked the High
Priest and subdued him with a leaping attack. The three night hags
surrendered, promising fealty to Yam ibn Saud if they spared their lives.
So Yam ibn Saud spared the night hags Agla, Tila, and Teril, a powerful covey of
hags. Agla was an epic bard, Tila an epic necromancer, and Teril an epic
rogue. Agla told the party that the High Priest had tricked the Yuan Ti,
and that he was only awakening the Slumbering Serpent merely to slay it and
steal its power. Indeed, that is why the Phthisic and the Marilith were
there, to slay the Serpent Demigod. Also, the High Priest stole humans
from Azrael to make sure Yam ibn Saud himself
would come. His only fear was that Yam ibn Saud would send Iss'ul instead;
he was not sure his god-killer could take Iss'ul, whom he feared. He hoped that
not only would Yam ibn Saud be slain, but so would the Slumbering Serpent, thus
obtaining two sets of deific power. Agla told Yam ibn Saud that the High
Priest's master, named Targincorian, was one who spoke to him in dreams, and,
from the description, Abdul Aziz identified the "master" as an
illithid. The High Priest wanted out of the shackles of his Master and had
contrived this plan to obtain deific powers to slaughter the illithid. Yam
ibn Saud gave the samurai permission to kill the High Priest, which was quickly
done.
Agla retrieved the High Priest's
books and notes, and Yam ibn Saud found several of Kherit's journals and
scrolls, telling much of his past. Yam ibn Saud threw them into the
fire. So this High Priest had obtained his information from stolen
journals, not from Iss'ul. His hunch about Iss'ul was wrong. Yam ibn
Saud made the hags give him the souls they had taken, and then destroyed the
statue of the Slumbering Serpent. Abdul Aziz created a gate, and
they returned the people to Ad Damman, as Kaantar's armies threw the dreamstuff
globes back into dreamland via another gate.