Pathfinder 1E JollyDoc's Jade Regent

The Sacrifice

2 Sarenith, 4715 - 9 Sarenith, 4715

"We're going to take a little detour," Ulf Gormundr said as the caravan company sat gathered around the fire that evening. Sly lay reclined on her bedroll, but she was no worse for wear after the ministrations of Koya and Spivey.
"If we followed the main route," Ulf explained, "we would pass through the trade-town of Unaimo. However, I would prefer that we head west, to a cliff-village I know of called Iqaliat. I am friends with the hearthmistress there, and I would like to get a better idea of the prevailing conditions along the trail from someone I trust before deciding on the best path for us to take."
The others deferred to his expertise, though Skygni grumbled under his breath about stupid two-leggers getting themselves eaten by going off the beaten path.

Ulf said that the trip to Iqaliat would take about a week. Their next three days of travel were largely uneventful, save for an unoccupied hunter's cabin that they came across, which held nothing of any real value. Four days after that, however, they made a grisly find: a large mound of bodies, all human, stacked near the trail like cordwood. They were all naked, and the cause of death appeared to be exposure. Their skin was white to the point of being blue, and ice-rimed. What at first looked to be like a shared wound on each corpse, was instead some sort of symbol carved into their flesh, like a three fingered claw.
"Snow-chickens," Boris observed. "Very dangerous."
"No, it's worse," Zula said. "I have seen that symbol before. It is the mark of Sithhud, a demon lord of blizzards and the frozen dead."

____________________________________________________________

The village of Iqaliat was built into the overhanging cliffs of Alasek Ridge, at the southern edge of the polar plateau known as the High Ice. With the summer melt in full swing, waterfalls by the hundreds poured down the icy cliff face. Most of the village's buildings were two-story affairs, crafted of stone and clay brick, with their outer faces clad in harder rock. Earthen ramps led up to a gatehouse from the tundra, and a tall watchtower stood over it.

Guards atop the watchtower hailed the caravan as it approached, demanding to know their business there.
"I am Ulf Gormundr," the guide called, stepping forward and displaying a talisman made of reptilian scales, "friend to Hearthmistress Sonavut. We request shelter and trade."
The guards conferred among themselves for several minutes, and then called down for the gates to be opened. The caravan wagons rumbled up the ramp, through the gates, and down another ramp on the far side. The villagers comprised over one-hundred individuals, including even a handful of dwarves. They went about their daily routines, but as the caravan came to a halt in the middle of the town, the Varisians were met by icy stares and scowling faces.
"I thought you said these people were your friends," Mazael muttered to Ulf.
"It was so when last I was here," the Ulfen replied. "Something is amiss. We should speak with the hearthmistress."

The companions made their way to the home of Hearthmistress Sonavut, where she stood outside and lifted her hand in greeting.
"Ulf Gormundr," she smiled, "it is good to see you again, though I am afraid you have come at a dark time."
"So I gathered," Ulf replied. "What has happened? I hoped to learn the conditions along the Path of Aganhei before we continued on our trek."
Sonavut looked around, then lowered her voice.
"It would be best if we spoke privately."
She led them into the house, and offered them cups of hot, fermented goat's milk. She joined them, sitting heavily and sighing deeply.
"The Path east, past Unaimo and through the Koumssa Gap, is blocked," she said.
"Blocked?" Ulf asked, puzzled. "By what?"
"The morozkos," she replied. "The hungry storms."
"What are those?" Piotr asked.
"Fierce winter blizzards," Ulf answered. "The Erutaki believe they are malevolent, and possible even...sentient."
He turned back to Sonavut.
"But this is not the time of year for them," he said. "Nor have they ever been seen this far south."
Sonavut nodded. "This is true, but now they have swept down from the High Ice and stopped all travel along the Path of Aganhei. We have also heard tales of strange black pillars, guarded by walking, frozen dead, appearing all across the Crown of the World."
"Did you say frozen dead?" Zula interrupted.
Sonavut nodded again.
"We encountered frozen corpses just this morning," Zula explained, "but they did not walk. They were very much dead, but they were all marked with the symbol of Sithhud."
Sonavut's face went pale, and she made the sign of the evil eye.
"These are dark tidings indeed," she said, "but this is not the cause of the unrest among my people. There is more: after decades of peace, the dragon Vegsundvaag has awakened, and has been terrorizing our village. We have sent hunters to slay her, but none have returned, and many more of our warriors have died defending the town during her attacks."
Boris elbowed Lucian in the ribs, and whispered, "You see? Dragon! Mer-Queen right again!"
"Do you know why these attacks are occurring?" Ulf asked.
Sonavut shook her head.
"No, and neither does our chief, but our shaman, Tunuak, blames it on our supposed lack of faith in the spirits of the wind that have always protected Iqaliat. He has even gone so far as to accuse me of leading the people astray," she said bitterly. "I'm sorry that I have no answers for you. The dragon blocks the way north, and the morozkos block the Path east."
Before anyone could say anything further, however, loud and angry voices could be heard from outside.

____________________________________________________________

When the companions exited the home of the hearthmistress, they saw that what looked like the entire village had gathered outside, surrounding the caravan wagons with the drivers and cooks, shouting angrily. In the midst of the crowd stood an aged man, still hearty, but leaning on a twisted staff, and wrapped in a heavy gray cloak decorated with Erutaki tribal designs. His brown eyes were yellowed with age, as were his few remaining teeth, and his balding head was a patchwork of short, wiry white hairs around his temples and the back of his scalp. Tribal tattoos decorated his liver-spotted pate and face, wrinkled and worn by wind and sun. He carried himself with an air of importance, expecting to be heard.

"Tunuak!" Sonavut hissed quietly.
"There they are!" the old man shouted, pointing one bony finger at the Scions. "Their intrusion here will only inflame the dragon's anger! You have all turned away from the spirits of the wind and invited outsiders into our midst, and the spirits will repay such faithlessness by sending the dragon against us once again! Now, even the traditional sacrifices to appease the wind spirits will not suffice! The outsiders' taint can be removed only by sacrificing one of them, and then the rest must leave here at once!"
The crowd roared in angry agreement, and surged closer towards the companions.
"Do not listen to this nonsense!" Sonavut shouted back. "Ulf Gormundr has come to us as a friend many times, and these people that he journeys with have brought no ill with them!"
She looked around the mob for the village chieftain, Nalvanaq, and saw him standing off to one side, arms crossed over his chest in silent judgement.
"Do they not?" Tunuak raised his voice again. "Look, standing with them before your eyes is a goblin! A devourer of children, and our scouts reported seeing an ice warg traveling with them on the road! They associate with minions of evil! How can they not be harboring ill in their hearts?"
The crowd erupted again, nodding their heads vehemently, and this time, it was Piotr who stepped forward to speak.
"It is true that we count a goblin among our friends," the sorcerer said, "but he was taken as an infant, when he was orphaned by his tribe. He has been raised among good people all of his life, and his actions speak for his noble spirit."
Boris sniffed, and wiped a tear from his eye.
"As for the wolf," Piotr continued, "we rescued him from a vile ogre mage, and in exchange, he has offered to help guide us along our path."
The crowd murmured and grumbled, many of them shaking their heads in disbelief.
"Boris not think you very convincing," the goblin muttered, "but he like your words and make you special meal tonight if you not sacrificed to wind gods."
"More lies!" Tunuak shouted, turning back to the crowd. "While it may not be these particular individuals who have angered the spirits, our leniency in allowing foreigners to continuously travel across our lands and sacred places have brought on their vengeance! The dragon is the instrument of their displeasure! I implore you, my people, let us make this sacrifice, and return to us the good will of the gods!"
"No, let us prove ourselves to you!" Piotr called back. "Let us go our way, and we will seek out this dragon for you! We will either convince it to cease its attacks, or we will slay it and returns its head to you!"
The crowds' rumblings became uncertain, and many whispered among themselves, some nodding in agreement. Tunuak could sense the mood shifting.
"Of course they are willing to go to the dragon!" he shouted shrilly, "For they are in league with it! The will return here with it and destroy you all! You will perish in ice and frost, fodder for the wolves who will feast upon your bones!"
This time it was Zula who responded. The Shoanti woman stepped forward and projected her voice, not enough to cause harm, but with just the right amount of force to cause those listening to wince and cover their ears.
"Now listen to me!" she boomed. "We are here in peace, and we will leave the same way! We will deal with this dragon, for it stands in our way, but make no mistake: if any of you try to do us harm, it will be at your own peril! You will wish for the tender mercies of a dragon by the time we are finished with you!"

Silence fell over the crowd, with nervous glances passing among the villagers. Finally, the chieftain stepped forward.
"We have heard your words, and those of our shaman," he said, his voice carrying. "Here is my decision: you may stay here for one night, but tomorrow you must leave. Go to the dragon or don't, but do not return this way again."
He turned, and walked back into the crowd, which parted before him. Zula looked around, but Tunuak was nowhere to be seen. There was something not right about the old shaman, other than just religious zealotry. It seemed to her that there was something more to his actions than a simple desire to protect his village from a dragon.
"I would like to speak to the shaman," she said, turning to Sonavut. "My hear tells me that there is a falseness to him that I cannot explain."
The hearthmistress nodded. "I can take you to his tower," she said. "Follow me."

They crossed the center of the village to a squat, three-story stone tower. Sonavut knocked on the door, and it was opened a moment later, but not by Tunuak. Instead, a younger man stood there, his eyes wide and blinking at the strange group assembled outside.
"Hearthmistress?" he asked, perplexed. "What is going on?"
"We are looking for your master, Gluktok," Sonavut replied calmly. "We need to speak with him."
"He...he is not here," Gluktok stammered. "He did not return after the assembly."
"Is that what they call a lynch mob around here?" Mazael growled.
"Do you know where he may have gone?" Sonavut asked, ignoring the war-priest.
"He has been spending much time among the wind altars lately," the apprentice replied, "but the last time I went there looking for him, I could not find him, though I am certain I saw him enter the tunnel to the cliff top."
"Wind altars?" Zula asked.
"The shrines to the wind spirits," Sonavut explained, "atop the cliff above the village. There is a cleft in the cliff wall that leads up to it. I can show you where it is, but then I feel that I must speak to Chief Nalvanaq. I implore you to tread lightly when you find Tunuak. He is a good man...just misguided, I feel."

______________________________________________________________

The passage Sonavut led them to was little more than a crack in the cliff wall at the back of the village. The companions passed through it, single-file, and followed the narrow, twisting course steadily upwards. Zula found a set of booted footprints that were easy to follow, but midway up they abruptly vanished. She halted the others with a raised hand, and then bent low to the ground. She straightened a moment later.
"They lead to that wall," she pointed.
"Allow Boris, loud lady," Boris pushed forward and peered closely at the bare rock.
"I see a small crack there," Haroldo indicated.
Boris gave him a look of disdain.
"You not teach grandmother how to suck eggs," he scoffed. "You see crack, but Boris," he reached out a finger and traced a large rectangular outline, "find whole door. And," he bent over and fiddled with something on the floor, "trapdoor that you standing on. Boris fix, so now you not fall and die. No need to thank Boris. After you."
He pushed another spot on the wall, and the entire section pivoted inwards, revealing another passage beyond.

They lined up again and followed the new, but still just as narrow, tunnel as it sloped up to the west and south. After perhaps a hundred feet or so, it rounded a corner and ended in a blank wall. Standing before the wall, gazing up at it, was an Erutaki hunter clad in leathers. He turned to look over his shoulder as the group approached.
"I saw you in the village," he said. "What are you doing here?"
"We could ask you the same," Zula replied. "Did you see Tunuak come this way?"
"I am Naquun," the man said. "I was following the shaman to make sure he was safe, but then I saw him go through a hidden door that I had never seen before. I ducked through after him, but when I got here, he was simply gone again."
Zula's eyes narrowed.
"You followed him through the hidden door," she said, "but how did you bypass the pit trap?"
Naquun's face turned stony, and one hand inched towards his belt where a pair of hand-axes hung.
"I am sensing a powerful evil presence," Helgavarl abruptly announced from Mazael's brow.
That was enough for Boris. The goblin dove between the hunter's legs and rolled to his feet behind the man before driving a blade through his back. The impact shook his arm so badly that he almost dropped his sword. It was if he had stabbed a stone wall. Worse, instead of bleeding profusely, the wound rapidly began to close. A twang sounded from further down the hall and one of Lucian's arrows appeared in Naquun's shoulder, where it quivered for a moment, and then fell to the ground.
"Looks like we got our work cut out for us," Mazael snarled, stepping forward as Suishen ignited. He struck with all his might, and to his relief, Naquun grunted and gave ground. A moment later, however, both hand-axes appeared in the hunter's hands and he leaped at Mazael, his weapons moving too fast for the war-priest to block. They carved deep gouges in his flesh, and it was his turn to fall back. Two more arrows sprouted from Naquun's chest, and Boris struck twice more from behind. The hunter staggered, but did not fall...at least not until Mazael gathered himself and struck again, burying Suishen in his chest. As he collapsed to the floor, the Erutaki warrior almost seemed to deflate. A black mist curled from his open mouth and snaked across the floor, where it coalesced into a tiny, dark-skinned creature with bat-like wings and curved horns protruding from its forehead. Mazael didn't hesitate. He swung Suishen again, and splattered the little demon across the wall.

"What in the Hells was that?" he gasped, struggling to catch his breath.
"A demon," Zula replied. "A quasit."
"It was...possessing him," Lucian said in disbelief. "We killed an innocent man!"
"Then we need to take care when we find Tunuak," Piotr said. "We couldn't know this man was possessed, and the same may be true of the shaman. If he resists us or attacks, we should try and take him alive if possible."

_________________________________________________________

Boris easily found the second hidden door in the tunnel wall, which was blessedly untrapped. It granted ingress into a wide, irregular pit in the upper cliffs, open to the sky above through a crack in the ice, with a ramp circling its way down to a slushy basin sixty-feet below. The path appeared to be quite narrow, and slick with ice, with numerous small niches in the wall adjacent along its course.

Mazael was the first to step through, his eyes scanning for any sign of the shaman. What he saw out of the corner of his gaze were several shadowy forms that quickly darted out of sight into the niches. They looked like humans at first glance, though gaunt and emaciated. When his eyes adjusted to the gloom, however, he saw from their sunken eyes, blue skin, and frost-covered flesh that they were no longer among the living.
"Company," he warned the others.
"Boris see them," the goblin replied, and then he was off.
Boris scrambled along the ledge, moving nimbly despite the slippery conditions. He reached the first of the frozen dead just as it emerged from its hidey hole, and stabbed one of his twin blades through its belly. It didn't make a sound, and the wound looked like a hole in a block of ice. Boris gulped and took a hasty step back. It pointed one boney finger at him, and a blast of frigid air erupted around him. Boris braced himself, but the blast just felt like a gentle breeze. He reminded himself to thank Mazael for asking Suishen to grant him protection from frigid conditions. A moment later, he owed the war-priest another debt of gratitude when Mazael charged past him, skating on air and impaling the undead with Suishen's fiery blade. The creature erupted in flames and screamed as it melted away into water and bones.

Just then, something very strange occurred: appearing out of thin air, a translucent, demonic-looking figure reached out towards Mazael and ripped across his face with claws that felt as sharp as steel. The war-priest cursed and slashed with Suishen. His jaw dropped when the sword passed completely and harmlessly through the demon. He cursed again and moved away from the creature, walking on air towards the middle of the pit. The demon raked its claws across his back as he fled.
"A little help here!" he cried.

Across the chasm, another of the frozen dead stepped out of a cleft and hurled a cone of frost towards the heroes still outside in the passage. Zula and Sly took the brunt of the blast, while Lucian and Piotr were unscathed due to Suishen's protection. The sword had consented to share this power with all of the Scions, but this did not extend to Sly and Zula, who were still relative newcomers. Lucian loosed an arrow towards the undead creature, and took it through the throat, and it toppled over the edge of the pit. Sly launched herself into the air, her supernatural hexes simultaneously giving her the power of flight and invisibility. Though her skin was blistered from the cold, the undead were the least of her worries. The shaman was around somewhere, and he was the greater threat. She dove towards the bottom of the pit, and that was when she heard the chanting coming from down below.

At that moment, a dark, cloying miasmic cloud exploded around the companions. Where it touched them, it froze like liquid fire, and with Zula, it even made her physically ill. Only Sly and Haroldo were beyond the edge of its spread, and it vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
"There you are!" Sly shouted, having pinpointed where the chanting had come from.
She began her own spell and loosed a crackling bolt of electricity towards the bottom of the pit. She was rewarded by a cry of pain from that area, and the smell of burning hair.

Piotr had deduced that the shaman must be hiding invisibly somewhere in the pit, just as Sly had. He passed a hand over his eyes, and murmured a spell. When he opened his eyes again, his vision sharpened, and he could clearly see Tunuak rising into the air from the bottom of the pit, smoke trailing from his fur cloak.
"He's flying!" the sorcerer called out. "He's on his way towards us!"

Mazael ignored this. He had his own problems. The demon had followed him, and opened up another gash across his chest. Suishen could not help him, and he wasn't going to be able to keep absorbing blow after blow. He searched his mind, desperate to find a solution, and he seized upon an idea. Maybe this wasn't a physical foe after all. Maybe the shaman had conjured up something. He grasped his holy symbol, and spoke the words to a dispelling prayer. A wide smile spread across his face when the creature simply popped out existence.

Zula, waves of nausea still roiling through her belly, heard Piotr's warning, and cocked he head, listening. Then she heard it: chanting coming from somewhere above. Fortunately, her thundercall was not a precision weapon. She opened her mouth and the air exploded with a booming report, completely drowning out whatever new spell Tunuak was planning to throw. A moment later, the air above the pit erupted with a burst of glittering dust, and then everyone could see the shaman hovering there.
"Very well!" Tunuak called. "Now you will all be able to see your doom coming!"
His hands wove together as he gathered another spell, and this time Zula could not stop it. A column of fire blasted down, enveloping the thundercaller, and catching Mazael as well.

Down on the ramp, Boris spotted another of the frozen dead maneuvering itself behind Haroldo. He leaped towards it, skidding between its legs and slashing at its thighs as he passed. Haroldo turned and saw the creature bearing down on him, then swung his great sword and took its head off its shoulders. He and the goblin then continued slip-sliding down the ramp to where yet another frozen corpse was emerging from the wall, and quickly put an end to it as well.

Piotr decided to fight fire with fire, and he detonated a ball of flame right on top of Tunuak. Unfortunately, the shaman had protected himself for just such an eventuality, and the flames left him unscathed, but Sly, who was still flying about invisibly, was caught in the blast and thrown into the wall of the pit, her skin blistering and her clothes smoldering. As she struggled to recover, Lucian loosed a pair of arrows at Tunuak, but he chose blunt-tipped shafts, remembering what Piotr had said about the possibility of possession. Tunuak grunted, and doubled over as the arrows struck his belly, but as he straightened, another spell was on his lips, this time conjuring a spinning vortex of violent wind about him, throwing all of his enemies away from him. Sly was beyond its effect, however, due to the force of the fireball. She summoned her magic and threw a slumbering hex towards the shaman. To her vast relief, Tunuak went limp as sleep overcame him, and then he dropped from the sky and plummeted towards the bottom of the pit. His winds cushioned the fall, but the force of it was still enough to jolt him back awake.

Before the shaman could recover, Lucian focused his divine power on the magical windstorm and, somewhat to his surprise, managed to dispel the vortex. Then both Piotr and Haroldo sent volleys of magic missiles towards Tunuak, throwing him further off balance. The shaman gathered himself and leaped into the air once more, struggling to gain altitude. Before he could reach the top, however, Sly sent a bolt of black fire at him, sapping his power as it drained his life force, and then Piotr rapidly followed up with a spell that sent an ear-piercing screech echoing through the pit, causing Tunuak to reel and seize his head in agony. Finally, Zula unleashed her thundercall once more. Tunuak went limp again, falling from the air yet again. This time when he hit the ground, however, he did not rise again.

__________________________________________________________

No demon rose from Tunuak's body after his death, assuaging Zula's guilt at having possibly killed another innocent. The slushy basin at the bottom of the pit where the shaman had fallen was filled with hundreds of bones, all marked with the three-fingered claw rune of Sitthud. On one side of the pit, dozens of skulls had been piled into a crude altar. A number of white shards, similar to ceramic, where stacked before it. Painted along the icy walls of the shaft were Erutaki pictograms, and scattered among many of these were more of the strange runes. One of the drawings showed strange black standing stones rising from icy hills, while another displayed a cluster of towers glowing with a strange blue light. A third one showed a single monolithic tower rising above what seemed to be a black lake with white mountain peaks behind it, and a fourth displayed a spiraling storm with long arms ending in ice-fanged jaws devouring Erutaki villages, but with longer jaw-arms reaching towards forests, crudely drawn castles and cities, and what might have been ships at sea. Warriors were shown trying to fight the storm with spears before being engulfed and sealed in tombs of ice. The final pictogram showed a blue-skinned woman with dark wings and hair, wearing a silver-crown or circlet. Her hand grasped one of the claw-sigils like a scepter, and spiraling streaks of silver and white curled from it in every direction.

"These shards," Zula said picking up one of them from in front of the altar, "unless I miss my guess they are...egg shells."
No!" Sonavut said. "It cannot be!"
The companions had brought the hearthmistress as well as the chieftain to Tunuak's bore after the battle.
"Those are from dragon eggs!" she cried.
"These," Chief Nalvanaq gazed at the pictogram of the black pillars, "our hunters have reported seeing these scattered around the High Ice. And these," he gestured at the blue-limned tower picture, "are the Nameless Spires. They are an ancient ruined city located at the North Pole. The mountains behind them are the Alabastrine Peaks. These are the morozkos," he indicated the long-armed storm. "Wait, what is this?" He leaned in more closely, peering at the drawing of the blue-skinned woman. "There is writing here. It speaks of love for someone named Katiyana 'who speaks to me on the winds from her tower in the Storms.'"
"The Nameless Spires," Sonavut said. "Our people believe the wind spirits reside there. It is a dangerous place, but also a source of great visions for those brave enough to seek it. Tunuak himself undertook a vision quest there within the past year."
"Where he apparently met this Katiyana," Zula said, "and then somehow decided that stealing dragon eggs and sacrificing them to a demon lord would be a good idea."

With this post, I am now current with our game, and I will now be updating once a week with the exploits from the previous Sunday

I'm looking forward to them!

Just finished catching up and I'm looking forward to the updates also!

Should have another up by tomorrow. Saturday at the latest.

The High Ice

8 Sarenith, 4715 - 5 Erastus, 4715

"I've had enough," Sly said.
The companions were gathered in Sonavut's home, discussing their next move, when the witch had abruptly stood up and made her announcement.
"This isn't what I signed up for, and no amount of money is worth this. I've almost died at least three times now, and we aren't even halfway to where we're going yet! I want out!"
The others looked at her, silently judging. It was Sandru who finally spoke.
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," the caravan master said calmly. "You have been an asset to our cause, but we all have our limits. We would not keep you here against your will."
Sly nodded firmly.
"I understand Piotr is going to be making a trip back to Kalsgaard," she said.
The sorcerer looked dubious, but nodded his head.
"Yes," he replied. "I have purchased a pair of teleportation scrolls, and I'm going to sell off some goods that we've accumulated, and do a little shopping as well."
"Good," Sly said. "Then I'll go with you, you can pay me my cut, and we'll go our separate ways."
"Boris going too," the goblin chimed in. "Have some personal business to handle."
"I guess that's settled then," Zula said. "We will wait for your return, and then I suppose we have a dragon to deal with."

_________________________________________

Piotr and Boris returned from their trip the following afternoon. Boris had not been at all forthcoming with the sorcerer about the nature of his business in the Ulfen city, and had promptly vanished as soon as they arrived in Kalsgaard, only to reappear at exactly the predetermined time and place to return with Piotr to Iqaliat. Despite Piotr's suspicions, however, the goblin's mission was anything but nefarious. He had sought out an armorer and fetched a good price for the fine breastplate that Arnaalak had given him, and then gone to the orphanage he'd visited previously. He'd left the gold the breastplate had fetched at the back door with a simple note instructing that it be spent to buy the children toys and sweets.

The following day, the Scions prepared to depart Iqaliat in search of the lair of the dragon Vegsundvaag. Sandru had decided that the caravan would remain in town for safety, and he, Ameiko, Shalelu, Koya, Spivey and Ulf would stay with it. Ulf had no knowledge of where to find the dragon, and didn't think he would be of much use. Just before the companions were about to leave, however, Chief Nalvanaq approached them, a tall, heavily muscled Mwangi man trailing him. The big man, dressed as he was in only a loin cloth, and carrying a long pole-arm, looked as out of place among the Erutaki as Boris did among the humans.
"This is Mongo," Nalavanaq said by way of introduction. "He knows the terrain between here and Vegsundvaag's domain. He will guide you."
The Chief didn't wait for a response. He simply turned on his heel and walked away, leaving the companions staring at their strange new guide.

________________________________________

It took four days of travel on foot across the barren expanse of the High Ice to reach the glacial rift where Mongo indicated the dragon laired. Along the way, the big Mwangi man told his new companions of how he had come to be so far from home.

Deep within the darkest Mwangi jungles, a small tribe known as the Toot-Tutes (which in common translated into Great Warriors) hunted with great success for many generations. When Mongo came of age, he became bored with hunting pumas and giant snakes. He left his tribe in hopes of learning to become the greatest warrior in the world. Aboard his tiny dugout canoe, Mongo traveled to the Sodden Lands where he hired on as a city guard. There he served for several years , learning to use a guisarme and becoming a skilled guard. However, he soon grew tired of city life and yearned for more advanced knowledge of fighting styles. Thus, Mongo boarded a ship bound for Varisia. There he met the love of his life, a woman named Tootsie. Tootsie slept with Mongo every night and it only cost five copper pieces! Among other things, Tootsie was a monk and taught Mongo how to fight with only his hands and feet. They were pledged to be married. However, only months before their wedding at the Temple of Gorum, Tootsie died of mummy rot and Mongo was left broken hearted. Filled with despair and self loathing, Mongo travelled to the Land of the Mammoth Lords. There he made a name for himself as a gladiator at Tankin’s Gamehouse and Hobgoblin Brothel. Mongo won many, many matches and eventually attracted the attention of a merchant know as Morcash. Morcash lured Mongo out of the fighting pits and encouraged him to join him on a venture to other side of the world. Mongo agreed in hopes of traveling to meet the Tian people and learning their fighting styles. However, not long into their journey, Morcash’s caravan was ambushed by a tribe of terrible cannibals. Everyone but Mongo was captured. Luckily, Mongo made his way to the village of Iqaliat where he had remained stranded and seeking revenge.

"An...interesting tale," Zula said once the loquacious warrior had finished his story. "We are bound for Tian Xia once our business here is concluded. If we survive this, perhaps you could journey with us."
"I would like that," Mongo nodded. "Not enough trees here."

The rift that Mongo had led them to was about twenty feet wide, but over one-hundred feet in length. The companions approached cautiously and peered over the edge. It looked as if it widened after thirty feet or so, but then it extended away into darkness, beyond even the sharp eyes of Boris.
"Boris go down," the goblin volunteered. "He more sneaky than big people, but Boris need talking fire sword to make him walk on air like Mazael."
"Easy enough," the war-priest agreed.
"And...," Boris continued, "Boris need Piotr to make him invisible too. Boris sneaky, but it never hurt to be careful."
Piotr couldn't argue the logic, especially where dragons were concerned. So, once the goblin had been rendered invisible and lighter than air, he dropped over the edge of the crevasse and began making his way down. After descending some sixty feet, he saw a cave opening on one side of the rift, but he also noticed something on the opposite side: the ice there looked thinner in one spot, and he thought that if he hit it hard enough, it might break. He thought better of it, not wanting to make any more noise than necessary. He continued down. After another forty feet, he found two more openings on opposite sides, but one of them was much larger...dragon-sized. He entered quietly and found himself in a long cavern. It extended back well over a hundred feet, but was bisected by a small chasm halfway across. At the far end, crouched in the shadows, was a white-scaled dragon, roughly the size of a large warhorse. Boris had seen enough. He retreated as silently as he had entered, and made his way back to the top of the ravine.

Once Boris had reported that the dragon was indeed home, there seemed to be nothing for it but to go back down and see what happened.
"I would like to at least try and speak with her," Piotr declared. "Maybe if we can explain the circumstances of her eggs being destroyed, we can placate her."
"Hmph," Mazael snorted. "If a dragon showed up and killed my kids, and then another dragon came along and said, 'Sorry about that. That other dragon was bad and I took care of her. No hard feelings,' I would be having dragon stew for weeks!"
"It's worth a try," Zula said, "but don't get your hopes up."

Mazael asked Suishen to grant Haroldo the power to air walk along with himself and Boris. Then, the war-priest allowed Lucian to ride piggy back, while Haroldo carried Piotr. Zula tied off a rope at the top of the ravine and threw the other end into the abyss. Then, at her mark, she and Mongo leaped off the edge, each one holding on to the rope with one hand. As they began to fall, the thundercaller uttered a spell, and the two of them began to drift slowly down, as light as feathers. Using the rope to guide them, they landed softly on the ledge of the large cave mouth, just as the others joined them.

In formation, they companions entered the large ice cave, and at the sight of them, Vegsundvaag reared up in anger. Her scales glittered like polished ice edged with silver, but her face was marred with claw marks, and the horned frill surmounting her head was tattered and scarred.
"More warm bloods!" she screeched. "Come to steal more from me!?"
"Mighty Vegsundvaag!" Piotr called out, his hands held up placatingly. "We have come here seeking a peaceful resolution. We know that you have been victimized, but we found the individual responsible. He was a worshipper of a foul demon, and he thought to sow discord between the Erutaki and yourself with his actions. His plans have been foiled, and he is now dead at our hands."
The dragon's wings beat furiously as she rose into the air.
"I am well aware of what happened to my eggs!" she roared. "I found the evidence! A hammer lay amidst the ruins of my clutch, as well as a talisman marked with the filthy scrawlings of Iqaliat! On that day I swore vengeance on humans, and I vowed to devour every hot-blooded ape in that village until my wrath is sated! Now, you will be my next meal!"
"So much for peaceful negotiations," Maazel sighed as he drew Suishen. "Time to move to more aggressive tactics!"

Piotr had hoped that his efforts would bear fruit, but he was no fool. As the dragon launched herself towards him, he hurled a fireball into her path. She bellowed in agony as the flames washed over her, melting gaping holes through her scaled hide. Yet she did not falter, and as she rushed forward, Piotr felt his hear quail at her fury. Next to him, he saw Mongo's face grow pale as well. She back-winged above them and opened her jaws wide to spew forth a storm of frost and ice-shards that enveloped most of the companions. Fortunately, Suishen had shielded each of the scions with his protective magics from extreme cold, and the frigid breath caused no harm. Zula, however, did not share in that status, and she took the brunt of the blast, her skin turning bluish white where the ice clung to her. Mongo managed to leap aside at the last instant, else he would have fared no better.

Haroldo charged into the air, his great-sword held above his head. Vegsundvaag snapped at him as he came, but the blood-rager dodged aside, and then plunged his blade into her chest. A moment later, Mazael joined him in the air, flanking on the dragon's opposite side. She whipped her from this way and that at the warriors, but then another fireball from Piotr exploded in the air above her, driving her to the ground. As she fell, Haroldo and Mazael struck at her viciously, opening terrible wounds in her flesh. She landed heavily...right next to Piotr! Her jaws gaped above the sorcerer, but then two arrows sprouted from the roof of her mouth as Lucian's bow sang. She clawed at them, breaking them off just as Haroldo descended on her from above. She bit at him, sinking her teeth into his thigh. Unfortunately for her, it was not his sword arm. He brought his blade down with furious strength, cleaving almost completely through the dragon's neck. She collapsed heavily, her pale blood flooding out of her.

__________________________________________

The heroes searched the remainder of Vegsundvaag's lair, and found her nesting place, which was littered with broken eggshells. A stone hammer lay amidst the debris, as did a talisman which was the twin to the one that Ulf Gormundr carried. In another cave they found the dragon's horde...an astounding bounty of coins, gems, art objects and other wondrous items. They collected the trove, and then decided to investigate the bottom of the ravine before they departed. There they were surprised to find the remains of another dragon lying among the jagged rock spires. It had been reduced by scavengers to little more than shattered bones, but the wound patterns suggested that it had been mauled by a large predator...perhaps another dragon.

The companions took their leave of the dragon's lair, bringing Vegsundvaag's head with them as proof of their victory. When they reached Iqaliat four days later, the Erutaki hailed them as mighty heroes, and held a great feast of caribou, goat, and fish in their honor. They were invited to stay for as long as they wished, and the villagers repaired all of their wagons and equipped them with cold weather gear. Sonavut also gifted them with a sashimono of comfort, a magical banner that would provide warmth to those gathered around it, as well as two wands that would also help the travelers to endure the harsh elements that they were sure to face.

During the feast, Chief Nalvanaq and Sonavut took the Scions aside, and informed them that they had studied the pictograms in Tunuak's bore, and believed they had discovered more of the shaman's plans. Ancient tales told that the morozkos were the roaring scourge wielded by the demon lord Sithhud, who ate the flesh of the dead and bound their bones to serve him in ages past. The three-fingered skeletal claw was Sithhud's mark, and the pictograms suggested that the dark-winged woman may have found some way to reclaim the demon lord's ancient power, perhaps using the strange black monoliths or other forgotten magics discovered in the Nameless Spires. The elders believed that the third pictogram showed a place that the Erutaki called the Storm Tower. So named because of the storms that always seemed to swirl above its pinnacle, that spire was similar to those found in the Nameless Spires, but it stood alone near the Alabastrine Peaks. The morozkos had already been awakened, but if the woman gained full control over the hungry storms, none would be able to stand before them, and the Scions and their caravan would never make it across the Crown of the World. If they hoped to make the crossing, they would have to journey to the Storm Tower and deal with her before her designs were complete.

____________________________________________

'I see you, Scion of House Amatatsu,' the voice spoke into Zula's head.
"What?" she asked, looking around.
"It's the sword," Ameiko said, smiling as she approached, "Suishen. It has informed me that you have become a Scion of my family's House."
"What?" Zula repeated. "How?"
Ameiko shrugged. "Maybe by repeatedly risking your life for the sake of this caravan and my quest. You have no vested interest in seeing this through, yet you have remained with us and gone out of your way to defend us."
Zula was at a loss for words.
"I...I am honored," she said, bowing her head. "I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to see you restored to your throne. In turn, I only ask that you might allow me to impart to you the wisdom of my experience, to use as you will."
Ameiko smiled again.
"I think I'm going to need all the advice I can get."

______________________________________________

"So we have agreement, yes?" Boris asked.
The Erutaki warrior eyed the goblin suspiciously but nodded, weighing the sack of coins in his palm.
"Just so we on same page," Boris said, "why don't you tell Boris plan again?"
The man sighed.
"I will journey to Lake Nallishoot and watch over it for one year. I will make sure that no harm comes to any of its...inhabitants."
"Exactly!" Boris said. "Now you get going, and if you meet Mer-Queen, you tell her Boris sent you, and not to eat you."
The man gulped, but then looked at the heavy bag of gold again and nodded.

_____________________________________________

Ulf informed the rest of the company that, by his estimate, the journey from Iqaliat to the Storm Tower would be about 700 miles across the High Ice and into the Boreal Expanse. Though he had never been that close to the pole before, the guide had heard stories and seen enough maps that, using the mountains as a landmark, he was confident in his ability to bring the caravan there, and afterwards guide it beyond the far end of the Alabastrine Peaks to rejoin the Path of Aganhei at Dead Man's Dome.

Traveling across the High Ice proved more difficult than the tundra, both because the terrain was more rugged, and because it was more desolate and thus harder to navigate. The environment also became more extreme the further north they ventured. One hundred miles north of Iqaliat, the elevation passed 5000 feet, and in the thin air the companions and their horses became easily fatigued. Furthermore, the temperatures atop the High Ice dropped precipitously from the relatively balmy 40 degrees of the tundra, to ranges between 0 degrees and negative 20! The cold weather gear the caravan was outfitted with helped, as did the sashimono of comfort and the wands of endure elements Sonavut had given them. Still, the going was rigorous.

Two weeks out from Iqaliat, the caravan was well in the Boreal Expanse and, being Summer, the sun remained fully risen and shed its light all day and night, appearing to move in a circular pattern in the sky rather than rising and setting. At some point, the companions began to see a bluish glow at the northern horizon that intensified as they drew closer. Finally, as they crested a rise, they saw a massive black tower some ten miles in the distance. The strange blue light emanated from its apex. Just then, Skygni came up the ridge from the opposite side. The warg had been scouting some distance ahead, as was his wont.
"I don't think you're going to be able to get the wagons much closer," he growled.
"What did you find?" Sandru asked.
"Corpses," the wolf said, "lots of them. Walking around. Couple of hundred I'd guess, but I don't count so well."
The caravan master cursed.
"We'll never get past them," he said.
"No, I suspect not," Zula replied pensively, "but perhaps a smaller group could. The caravan can stay here under close guard, while we Scions go in for a closer look."
Sandru looked to Ameiko, who nodded her agreement.
"We will stay here until we hear from you that the path is safe," she said.

___________________________________________

The Scions, plus Mongo, left the caravan behind and began crossing the wasteland towards the black tower in the distance.
"This never going to work," Boris complained. "Boris is sneaky. Big-voice lady sneaky, but all rest of you sound like pots and pans in Boris's kitchen when he washing after big meal! We going to get caught! You wait and see!"
Less than an hour later, the goblin's prediction came true.

From out of the blowing snow and mist came staggering a dozen of the frozen dead. Boris spotted them first, and he called out a warning to his companions, putting an arrow through the neck of one as he did so. Lucian followed up with a second shaft through the thing's forehead, and it collapsed. The others simply walked over it as they continued to shamble forward. Haroldo rushed forward to meet them, hacking as he went. He quickly found himself surrounded, however, and their frigid claws began to tear at him. More of them moved past him and reached Boris. The goblin tried to backpedal away, but the creatures grabbed at him and ripped deep gouges in his flesh. Mongo ran to the goblin's aid, his polearm pulling the legs from beneath one of the undead, which he then impaled to the ground with the axe-like blade of his weapon. Zula's voice cracked through the cacophony of the storm, throwing a quartet of the corpses back. Mazael was among them in an instant, chopping them down like saplings. Boris managed to fight his way free through the opening Mongo had provided him, slashing one of his swords across the throat of an assailant as he passed. Lucian's bow continued to thrum, bringing down another corpse, and Haroldo's blood rage filled him as he hewed about him, felling another three. Then, a rolling sphere of fire came bowling through the undead as Piotr summoned his magic, setting one of them alight like a pyre. A few moments later, the last of them fell as Mazael and Boris struck together, and Lucian found his marks with the precision of Old Deadeye himself.

________________________________________________________

It took several more hours of slogging through the snow before the companions reached the Storm Tower. It was even more impressive up close. The hexagonal spire of black basalt loomed hundreds of feet into the air, mired in a lake of black slush, with a shattered causeway leading across towards a gaping opening in the wall at its base. A huge, crackling ball of blue light floated just above the tower's roof, while a raging white storm turned in an expanding spiral overhead.

"We going...in there?" Boris panted, fatigued from the trek through the thin air.
"Looks that way," Mazael said.
Boris nodded. "Ok, but don't expect Boris to save you this time. Boris knows he is irresistible to women, but only so much of him to go around."

The Storm Tower

5 Erastus, 4715

"Are you sure about this, Boris?" Zula asked. "You don't need to be taking unnecessary risks."
The goblin waved her off.
"This what Boris do. He very sneaky. He sneak over bridge and inside tower. Then, he come back and tell you if safe. No problem!"
The thunder-caller looked dubious, but she had to admit that the plan made sense. The companions were standing on the shore of the lake of black slush that surrounded the immense tower, and the wind whipped around them with gale force. The snow storm was blinding, limiting their visibility.
"Ok," she nodded, "but we need to keep you in sight, so we're going to follow along behind at distance."
Boris shrugged.
"Just be quiet!" he shouted over the howling wind. "Boris not want to get killed because you clanky-clanking everywhere!"

The little goblin turned and began hopping nimbly across the broken, crumbling causeway that led from the lakeshore to the base of the tower. When he was about halfway across, Zula motioned for the others to follow. The distances between the fractured pieces of the bridge were not large, but the blowing wind and icy conditions made the crossing hazardous nonetheless. By the time the rest of the Scions reached the halfway point, Boris had already reached the large, hexagonal opening in the tower's wall. He stepped cautiously inside, and immediately felt an oppressive sense of unease, but at least the wind wasn't blowing in the entry hall. Windblown snow had drifted into the corners and along the walls of the trapezoidal chamber, piling up in deep drifts. Identical hexagonal openings exited the room directly ahead of him, and to his right and left. Strong wind blew from the opening in front of him, and some sort of crystal panel was affixed to the wall beside it. Boris moved in a little further, trying to see what might lay in the adjoining rooms. To his left, he saw a large room with pale white mushrooms growing in profusion along its walls, popping out of more snow drifts. To the right was a similar large chamber, but with a tangle of roots and leaves covering the floor beneath more drifts of windblown snow. Something about the vegetation intrigued the goblin, and he moved in that direction to get a closer look.

Zula cursed when she saw Boris disappear around a corner once he'd entered the tower. She didn't like being exposed out in the open, but she also didn't want them to wander blindly into a potentially dangerous situation. Just as she was preparing to tell the group to keep moving, she caught movement out of the corners of both eyes. The causeway was only five feet above the surface of the dark slush, and from both sides Zula saw a total of three wakes moving towards them, their sources invisible below the surface.
"Incoming!" she shouted in warning to the others
At that moment, three creatures, still over fifty feet way, lifted their heads above the slush, their fanged maws dripping black bile. Each of them in turn spat viscous liquid towards those gathered on the causeway, striking Mazael, Haroldo, Piotr and Zula. They flinched in anticipation of being burned, but all they felt was a mild tingle on their skin.
"Thanks again, friend!" Mazael laughed as he patted Suishen's blade, grateful for the magical protection from extreme cold it had granted them.

Mongo was not the beneficiary of Suishen's gift, and when he saw the cold bile-spitting creatures closing in, the absolute last place he wanted to be was stuck on the narrow causeway between them. He got a running start and leaped across the final gap and through the tower's opening. As he landed in the entry hall, he saw Boris disappearing around a corner in a room to the left, where a large pile of leaves and vines lay. The Mwangi man turned abruptly when he heard footsteps behind him, and was relieved to see that Zula had followed him. She wasn't looking at him, however. Her eyes had gone wide as she looked around the room at the snow drifts, and then into the chamber where Boris stood peering at the vegetation.
"Run!!" she screamed, and then leaped back out of the tower and onto the causeway.
Mongo's brow furrowed at her odd behavior, but before he could process any further, the piles of snow exploded as figures leaped out of them, quickly surrounding him.

Mazael turned towards the splashing sound to his right, just as a four-armed horror, its body armored in bony plates, erupted out the slush and flung itself into him. The war-priest staggered back, lost his footing on the icy causeway, and then tumbled off the edge and into the black ice. At the back of the party, another of the creatures sprang out of the lake and collided with Lucian. The oracle's arms pinwheeled, and he had just managed to regain his footing when a second charda hit him, and forced him over the edge.

The creatures that encircled Mongo looked similar to the frozen dead they'd faced earlier in the day, but more savage and bestial. He held his pole-arm out before him like a shield, but there were too many of them...a half-dozen at least. They began feinting in on all sides, and as the Mwangi turned to fend off one, another would come at his flank. Three times their filthy claws struck and raked at his bare skin, and each time they did, a numbing cold flowed from the wound, and Mongo felt himself growing steadily weaker. Just then, he saw a blur of motion as Boris cartwheeled into the room and between the legs of several of the wights, rolling to his feet with blades in both hands and grinning. Mongo knew that was his chance. He reached into his belt pouch and crushed a dry, brittle leaf within, instantly vanishing from sight.
"Hey!" Boris cried, his jaw dropping. "Why you leave Boris? Now what Boris supposed to do??"

Despite his heavy armor and the viscosity of the slush he swam in, Mazael somehow managed to tread water and still hold on to Suishen. He grabbed the edge of the causeway and heaved himself, dripping, out of the lake. No sooner had he regained his feet, however, than the chard lunged for him again, this time going for his legs and sweeping his feet out from under him. Mazael landed hard on his back, but at least he didn't roll back into the water. He didn't have more time to think or react, for the little beast was upon him, slashing and tearing at him with its multiple appendages.

Lucian wasn't faring much better. He also managed to haul himself back out of the slush, and even got in a solid swing with his cudgel against the charda waiting for him, since his bow was useless in the high winds, but then the creature knocked him flat on his back and began to pummel him relentlessly. Then, a gout of flames burst over the little beast, and it screeched and recoiled, spinning towards its new opponent. Piotr stood behind it, his fingers laced together and still smoking. Lucian took the opportunity to snatch a snapleaf from his belt and crush it. As he faded from view, he leaped to his feet and retreated.

Mongo fled through the chamber with mushroom-covered walls, only stopping when he'd reached the far side. Still invisible, he paused to catch his breath. After a moment, however, he held his breath altogether. He'd heard something...a faint scrape of claws on stone. He wasn't alone in the room. Then he reeled to one side as something heavy hit him, and tooth-shaped punctures opened in his side. Another blow struck him from the opposite side as another bite appeared. As he looked around for his attackers, he saw a faint outline of three creatures that looked like four-legged walking mushrooms with large, fanged maws...just before they disappeared from view again.

Boris backed slowly away as the six wights advanced on him, his swords held before him.
"Boris not afraid of you," he taunted, though in truth, fear was making his hands shake slightly.
Suddenly, two of the creatures in the back literally exploded into pieces as Haroldo leaped into the room, his great-sword cleaving them asunder.
"Boris love you, crazy-man!" the little goblin crowed as he darted forward and jammed his blades through the spine of one of the wights who'd turned to look at Haroldo, dropping it bonelessly to he ground. "He make you special stew tonight!!"

Zula's thunderous voice echoed down the causeway and across the lake, causing the chardas to grab their heads in agony. Mazael swung Suishen while still on the ground, and the flaming sword cut down the creature that stood over him. Leaping to his feet, he drove the katana through the skull of the one that had been menacing Lucian before he'd fled. Then Piotr sent a barrage of magic missiles into the last one, and as it stumbled back, Zula loosed her thundercall again, and the charda crumpled.

Mongo thrust blindly with his pole-arm towards the place where he'd last seen the phantom fungi, and felt it connect solidly with something. Then they were upon him again, biting and buffeting him from all sides. He swung about furiously, but landed no further blows. He felt himself weakening from blood loss.
"Help me!!" he cried

Boris turned towards the sound of Mongo's voice as Haroldo cut down the remaining wights. He saw the big Mwangi man bleeding profusely from multiple wounds, and then abruptly, he fell to the floor, unmoving. The goblin could no sign of who or what had attacked him.
"Hey!" Boris called to his companions. "Jungle-man asleep...maybe dead! Boris think something in there with him, but Boris can't see."
"Leave this to me," Piotr said as he jumped into the room from the causeway.
The sorcerer cast a spell, and a bright flash of light erupted over the fallen form of Mongo, followed by a glittering cascade of gold-flecked dust showering from out of thin air. The dust settled on the forms of three creatures that looked like shambling, four-legged mushrooms.
"Oooohh!" Boris gasped. "Boris could make nice soup with those!"
He leaped into the room, and the walking fungi turned to follow him. One of them managed to nip at him as he darted past, but Haroldo was right behind him and hacked the mushroom to pieces before it could turn on him.

"Behind you!" Zula shouted at Mazael as she entered the tower.
The war-priest turned to look into the room behind him where, when he'd last looked, there had only been a pile of dried leaves and roots. His eyes went wide when he saw the pile of vegetation rear up, revealing a massive white flower beneath it. The bloom suddenly pulsed with blinding white light, and he felt his eyes burning as his vision burned away. Piotr managed to turn his head and shut his own eyes at the last second. When he opened them again, bright spots danced before them, but he could see that the huge plant was sliding towards them, squeezing its bulk through the narrow doorway. Acting mainly on instinct, he hurled a fireball towards it, engulfing it in flames. Zula followed that immediately with her thundercall, sending shivers through the plant, but it recovered quickly and lunged forward, seizing Mazael as its fronds snapped shut around him.
'Do not panic, warrior,' Suishen spoke to him. 'Calm your mind.'
Mazael took a deep breath and focused. If there was one thing Desna despised, it was for her adherents to be hindered from moving in any way. He whispered Her name, asking for Her blessing, and then he simply slipped free of the plant's grip. Though still blind, he allowed Suishen to guide his hand, and swung with all his might as he dropped to the floor. The blade tore through root and stem, sending fluids spewing in all directions. Then, another fireball from Piotr set the moonflower completely ablaze, and it quickly shriveled away to ashes.

Boris darted among the remaining two phantom fungi, stabbing and feinting, diverting their attention from Haroldo. Though he suffered another vicious bite for his efforts, they paid off when the blood-rager slashed first one of them apart, and then the other. Then everyone stood still, catching their breath, waiting for the next threat. None came. The only sound was the howl of the wind coming from outside the tower, and another rush of wind emanating from the central room around which the other chambers circled. Mazael, rubbing at his eyes, his vision slowly returning, hurried quickly over to Mongo. The Mwangi was still breathing, though just barely. Mazael knelt to tend his wounds as the others began to fan out through the rooms searching for more threats. Boris approached the central core of the tower. There were two hexagonal openings on either side of the chamber, and the room had no ceiling. It formed a smooth-walled shaft that rose through the tower's center, and a crackling blue sphere of energy hung in the air high above. Boris peered closely at the crystal panel inset in the wall next to the shaft, and then reached out to touch a few buttons there in a pattern that seemed to make sense to him. To his surprise and delight, a hexagonal platform of blue light formed on the floor of the shaft. After a moment, it rose into the air until it reached a height of about one-hundred feet. It paused there briefly, and then disappeared. Grinning, Boris turned to his companions.
"Boris find way up!" he said. "This going to be fun!"

Queen of Storms

5 Erastus, 4715 - 6 Erastus, 4715

"I'm not going to be of any further use to you," Piotr announced to his companions. "I've used all of my spells. I need to rest."
"We need to keep going," Zula insisted. "Whomever is controlling the storms surely knows we are here by now. We can't give her the chance to gather her forces against us."
"I don't disagree," Piotr nodded, "I'm just saying that I can't help you, and if I go with you, I'd only be a hindrance. I'll go back to the caravan and report on what we've found."
"Boris go with you," the goblin said matter-of-factly. "If fire-man no have fire, he not make it back to wagons alone. Boris help."
"Well that's just great!" Mazael threw up his hands. "So now we're down two warm bodies! We're not helping our chances here!"
"Then I suppose it's a good thing we arrived when we did," a new voice chimed in from the tower's entryway.
The others looked around, startled, and saw Shalelu standing there, Spivey hovering over her shoulder.
"We came looking for you," Spivey said. "You've been gone an awfully long time. We were getting worried."
"I would say your timing was perfect," Zula smiled. "Come. Let's get moving. I will brief you as we go."

_______________________________________________________

With Boris gone, it was up to Zula to figure out how to operate the lift mechanism. With her magical aptitude, it didn't take long, and the blue plane of force reappeared. The companions stepped on quickly, and it proceeded to rise swiftly up the central shaft of the tower. It stopped after about a hundred feet, and the chamber it had ascended into was significantly warmer than the lower rooms had been. The hexagonal shaft was open to the chamber on three sides, but its other three sides continued up towards the blue sphere above. To the left and right, two hexagonal portals stood in the walls, filled with featureless opaque crystals. An immense centipede-like beast crouched in the center of the room, rows of chitinous plates on its back glowing red-hot, each one emblazoned with the three-fingered claw symbol of Sithhud.

Lucian had an arrow knocked and his bow drawn in the blink of an eye. In less time than that, he'd loosed two shafts into the ice worm. Mazael stepped between the remorhaz and his friends, Suishen blazing before him. He slashed repeatedly at the beast, and it drew back from his fury, hissing in rage. Then it lowered its massive head and slammed it into the war-priest, sending him flying to the back of the platform and into the wall of the shaft behind it, where he slumped to the ground. Bleeding profusely from its wounds, the remorhaz reared up weakly, gathering its strength to strike again, but then Shalelu's bow twanged and an arrow buried itself to the fletchings in the brute's right eye, and it toppled over with a crash.

At that moment, the blue force platform flickered and vanished. Most of the companions had already stepped off of it to get clear of the rampaging ice worm, but Mazael still lay stunned upon it, and Lucian had not yet gotten clear. As they began to fall, Zula sang out a prayer, and both of them abruptly began drifting down, gentle as a feather. They reached the bottom of the shaft unscathed, and Lucian, having watched Zula do it before, manipulated the control panel there to cause the platform to reappear. They rode up once again to join their friends, and this time, quickly vacated the untrustworthy apparatus.

___________________________________________________

The two hexagonal, crystalline doors behind the shaft both bore control panels, even more complex that the one below that had summoned the platform. Yet Zula was able to bypass one of them as easily as if she'd done it a hundred times. The hexagonal portal retracted into the wall in six equal triangular sections, revealing a spacious chamber with a bewildering array of crystals and metallic tracery embedded in the walls. A low humming noise filled the air, and the crystals flashed with incomprehensible colored lights at irregular intervals. Scuttling about the room were eight creatures that looked like dog-sized scorpions carved completely out of gemstones, engaged in inscrutable tasks. They took no notice of the door opening, nor of the intruders staring at them with puzzled expressions.

"Crysmals," Zula said. "They are native to the plane of earth. They are sort of like insects, only existing to reproduce by feeding on crystals."
"Are they aggressive?" Mazael asked cautiously.
"Not generally," Zula shrugged, "but like any animal, they can be territorial."
She gazed about the room, her lips moving silently in prayer.
"There is magic here," she said, and pointed to several spots on the walls. "Three of the crystals. They look to have some value."
"Then we aren't leaving them here," Mazael said matter-of-factly.
He strode purposefully into the room, and the crysmals scurried about his feet, heedless. He reached the first crystal that Zula had indicated, and removed it from its niche. Instantly, all of the crysmals turned towards him, their spiked tales arching over their backs.
"Guess they consider this their territory," he gulped.

Lucian had readied his bow, expecting this exact thing to happen. Humans and their greed, he sighed to himself before snapping off two shots and shattering the nearest crysmal. Shalelu gave him a knowing shake of her head and an eye roll before destroying another with a volley. One of the creatures turned towards them and flicked its tail forward, sending a shard of razor-sharp crystal flying towards them. It struck the wall beside them and sent a shower of broken glass over them, leaving small nicks and cuts behind. Then Zula stepped into the room and opened her mouth. She pitched her voice at a high, ear-piercing frequency, and five more of the crysmals shattered into fragments. Lucian brushed the glass from his hands, and fired two more arrows into the last of the creatures, breaking it into pieces.

________________________________________________

The control panel beside the central shaft on the second level of the tower was much more intricate than the previous one had been, but Zula had no difficulty activating it. This time, however, not only did the blue translucent platform appear, but so did a shimmering dome over the platform. When the companions stepped inside, the temperature was comfortable, and the winds buffeting from above were calm. The platform rose swiftly another one-hundred feet, and came to a stop at the top of the shaft. The twenty-foot hexagonal hole of the shaft lay in the floor of a huge, hexagonal chamber. Four stone platforms jutted from the walls fifty feet above the floor, and above these, a pair of open windows in each wall looked out over the icy landscape outside. Six large crystals were embedded in the walls between the windows, glowing with a blue radiance. High above, a wide hexagonal opening pierced the ceiling. Beyond this, a massive sphere of blue light shed a dazzling radiance. Bolts of crackling electricity joined the crystals in the walls with the ball of energy. A howling gale swept downwards from the sphere, carrying a rumble of distant thunder. No less than a dozen hoarfrost spirits surrounded the central shaft as the companions rose through it, and atop one of the high platforms stood a woman of terrible beauty. She was lithe and graceful with pale, blue skin marked with white whorls. Her lustrous midnight-blue hair drifted about her head like wisps of storm clouds, and wings of blue-black feathers spread from her back. Her silvery fingernails glinted like razors.
"Sithhud welcomes you," she called, "as He welcomes all who sacrifice for His greater glory!"

Haroldo blurred into motion, leaping from the platform, his sword cleaving into two of the nearest of the frozen dead. Mongo was right behind him, and swept the legs from under one of the undead with his pole-arm, sending it tumbling to the floor where he then impaled it with the point of his glaive. Behind them, Spivey rose into the air and out of the protective dome. The gale-force winds rushed around her, but did not seem to bother her in the slightest, for the little azata was touched by Desna, and no physical force could restrain her movement. She held her hands above her head, and a dazzling burst of radiance flashed from between them. The holy light seared the other hoarfrost spirit that Haroldo had wounded into ashes. Another one nearby hissed, and threw its hands to its face as its eyes were burned out of its skull. The other undead drew back for a moment, but then quickly gathered themselves together again and, as one, unleashed blasts of frigid air upon all of the heroes. For most of the companions, this was only a minor annoyance as they had Suishen's protection against the cold. This was not true, however, for Mongo, Shalelu or Spivey. While Spivey's angelic heritage afforded her some respite, Mongo and Shalelu staggered out of the blast radius, ice crystalized around their joints.

"Come to me!" Zula shouted to her friends
She didn't wait to see if they obeyed before she cast a spell and conjured a second dome around them, this one opaque from the outside, but translucent from the interior. A moment later, Katiyana, the black-winged woman, wove her own magic, and a dark, greasy miasma exploded over the heroes, both inside and outside of the dome. The cloud cleared instantly, but it left scorched, blackened burns on the flesh of all of the heroes. For Shalelu, the back-to-back assaults were too much. The ranger sank to the floor beyond the relative protection of the dome, unconscious. Lucian cried out in dismay and ran from the dome, heedless of the danger. Haroldo cursed and charged after the oracle, hewing two hoarfrost spirits from behind as they closed on Lucian. Mongo followed and speared one of the undead as it tried to rise. Lucian reached Shalelu and lifted her over his shoulder, then hurried back to the dome.

The remaining hoarfrost spirits realized that, though the dome was opaque, it could not physically bar their way, and they began moving into it. Mazael met the first one through, and though it struck him a glancing blow, his retaliatory strike took its head from its shoulders. Zula looked up through the dome and saw Katiyana high overhead. Gathering her magic again, the Shoanti woman tapped into the power of the storm raging above, and called lightning down from it to strike the fiendish creature. Katiyana stiffened for a moment, and then threw her head back and laughed maniacally.
"Foolish child!" she screamed. "The storms are mine to command!"
She raised her hand above her, and lightning gathered around her fist.
"But the thunder is mine!" Zula shouted back, her voice booming and rocking Katiyana back on her heels, her spell fizzling.

The hoarfrost spirits continued to close in around the companions. Lucian stood protectively over Shalelu as he picked his targets and loosed arrow after arrow. One of the undead went down with two arrows through its neck. Haroldo spun around like a maddened dervish, cutting down another three of the frozen dead. Another one rushed in behind him, and he whirled, hacking that one to pieces as well. Lucian took the brief respite to catch his breath, then kneeled beside Shalelu and laid a hand upon her chest. Closing his eyes, he allowed his healing magic to flow into her, staunching her bleeding and easing her breath.

Zula saw that Katiyana was recovering from her previous assault, so she focused her voice and blasted again.
"Now, while she's distracted!" the thunder-caller shouted. "Someone get up there!"
Haroldo nodded and ran towards the nearest wall. He concentrated the rage boiling through his blood, and then through a sheer effort of will, he began scaling the wall with his hands like some giant, savage arachnid. Mazael's solution was less eloquent. He pulled the stopper from a flask with his teeth, and then upended it. A moment later, he flew into the air, Desna's blessing allowing him to soar through the buffeting winds, and charged towards the platform upon with Katiyana stood. He reached her just as she regained her balance for a second time, and slashed at her with Suishen. She screeched in pain, and leaped off the platform, spreading her wings and soaring across the chamber.

Down below, Zula blasted the last two undead inside the hut. As they stumbled back, Lucian put an arrow through one's skull, and Mongo tripped the other then stabbed it on the way down.

Mazael flew after Katiyana just as Haroldo reached the platform where she had been. Her eyes blazed as lightning gathered around her hand and she hurled it at the two warriors, sending electricity sizzling through their bodies. Laughing, she prepared to strike again.
"That will be enough of that!" Lucian muttered from his vantage on the ground where he watched the battle raging overhead.
He spoke a prayer to counteract magic and focused on the gathering electricity around Katiyana. He smiled when, with a satisfying 'pop,' the energy simply vanished.

Haroldo got to his feet, his clothing still smoldering from the lightning strike. As he raised his head, he caught sight of one of the large crystals embedded in the wall just above the platform. It still crackled with energy, and this arced to the other crystals, and to the large sphere above. It gave the blood-rager an idea. Gripping his sword in both hands, he raised it over his head and brought it down upon the crystal as hard as he could. The crystal cracked...a little...but an instant later, a blast of electricity surged from it, engulfing Haroldo. He jittered and danced across the platform for a moment and then, as the electricity died away, he fell motionless to the stone.

Mongo watched Mazael struggle with Katiyana, and noted that she had drawn near another platform. The big Mwangi strapped his pole-arm across his back, and then slipped a pair of steel-clawed gloves over his hands. With these, he was able to get a grip on the icy wall of the chamber and began climbing.

Zula saw Haroldo go down, and she cursed roundly, but she thought the blood-rager was on the right track. She looked up at another of the crystals and then opened her mouth and screamed at it, the sonic blast sending a spiderweb of cracks all through it.

As Mazael pressed his attack, Katiyana hissed in rage. Her eyes glowed blood red as she channeled the fury of the Abyss. Her claws grew wickedly sharp, and she slashed at the war-priest, opening terrible rents in his flesh. He grew dizzy from blood loss, and knew he would not be able to fend off her blows for much longer. Just then, he saw a blur of movement from behind Katiyana as Mongo launched himself off the platform and wrapped his arms around her. She twisted and writhed in his grip, but could not free herself. Mazael saw his only opportunity and rushed forward, Suishen singing in his hands. Once...twice...three times the sword struck, and with the last blow, Katiyana went limp. As she did, the storm sphere above suddenly imploded, and quickly dwindled away into nothingness. At the same time, all of the crystals along the walls exploded, releasing blasts of electricity. One of these caught Mazael, knocking him unconscious and sending him spiraling towards the floor. As the storm died, and the cacophony gave way to blessed silence, a distant scream could be heard being scattered on the polar winds.

________________________________________________

Gathering their wounded, the companions left the Storm Tower and returned to the caravan. The storm had broken, and the roaming bands of undead were nowhere to be found. The mood among the caravaners was jubilant, despite the injuries suffered and the horror they had seen.

"You know," Sandru said later, as they sat around the fire passing a flask of Varisian brandy," I've heard many interesting legends among the traveling folk over the years, but there is one in particular that comes back to me now that we are here, at the top of world, amid the ruins of this city of crystal spires."
"And I suppose you're going to regale us with the details?" Koya laughed, well into her cups.
"You know me too well, Mother," Sandru smiled. He cleared his throat and rose to his feet, warming to his audience.
"The story goes that many years ago, the princes of the Tian country of Waj Khor kept a powerful artifact known as the White Peacock Crown. It was said that this item helped them maintain their independence from their larger, more powerful neighbors. The princes claimed that it gave them the ability to see and hear the truth, which allowed them to thwart the deceptions of the rakshasas to their south, and the oni to the north. The princes even went so far as to make copies of the Crown to prevent would-be thieves from easily stealing it. However, a female ninja named Miriya was not just any thief. She was among the most clever and canny of her clan, and she was able to infiltrate the palace with a small group of her kinsmen, and make off with the true White Peacock Crown. It was not long after that the rival outsiders rose up in power and contested one another for control of Waj Khor, and brother was turned against brother, each enslaved by the warring factions. The small kingdom tore itself apart in civil war.
After their hollow victory, the oni began seeking the Crown, and started hunting down the ninjas of Miriya's clan. The clan master declared the Crown accursed and ordered Miriya to carry it to the farthest reaches of the world, banishing her on pain of death. Accompanied by a few faithful friends, she made her way from place to place, seeking hiding and shelter in great cities and tiny villages, brothels and monasteries. Each time, however, shape-changing pursuers found her, and she was forced to flee before them. In the end, she journeyed far to the north, even beyond the Wall of Heaven mountains that marked the edge of the lands she knew. Beyond, she found only the endless expanse of the frozen north. She and her friends infiltrated a caravan heading across the Crown of the World, covering their trail with a false sea voyage in hopes of throwing off their pursuers."
"Halfway across the Crown, their luck ran out. The oni caught up with them again, slaughtering most of the caravan before they were driven off. Miriya and the surviving caravaners left the known pathways and lost themselves in the northern mountains. They wandered for weeks until they discovered a long-forgotten legend: a strange city of towers, midnight blue and gleaming silver, and shattered glass, at once ruined and yet enduring from time out of mind. Approaching the outskirts and breaking into a low building at the foot of an impossibly high tower, Miriya and her companions found strange crystals and metallic carvings and artifacts that they broke loose to sell. Miriya, now half-mad, stated that she knew she had truly reached the farthest reaches of the world as she had promised her master, and there she would stay with the White Peacock Crown, hidden forever where the oni would never find it. She took the Crown down a long tunnel, impossibly straight and lit by lines of blue light, and Xam and Odashu, the last two surviving caravaners, sealed shut the door behind her."
"How do you know all of this?" Mazael asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Because I spoke with Xam himself when I met him once in Kalsgaard," Sandru replied. "He and Odashu eventually made their way across the pole, arriving in the trade villages just below the high ice. They kept their mysterious trade goods close, but were free with parts of their tales, which were little believed but much enjoyed by the locals. After venturing farther south, they had plans to return in force to loot the ancient ruins, but they were disappointed to find little market for the oddments they had brought with them. The strange relics of crystal and wire and tiny blinking lights seemed to have no purpose but decoration. Finally arriving in Kalsgaard, they found merchants who saw profit in these strange things, but pressed them for details of their tale. Sadly, they were unable to accurately track their journey, and hope of a triumphant return at the head of their own caravan was lost. In despair and drunken rage, Xam and Odashu fell into an argument, and Xam killed his partner. He himself was later tried and executed for the murder."

"Fascinating," Mazael grumbled, "but what's that got to do with us?"
"Don't you see?" Sandru asked, spreading his hands. "The blue crystal spires Xam described...we are here! From his description of the great tower, I think I can find the building where they last saw Miriya. If nothing else, it might be a pleasant diversion and a chance to gather some exotic trade goods that we might take with us to Tian Xia."
He looked to the others, most of whom shrugged noncommittally.
"If there really is such a relic that was meant to protect against the oni," Ameiko said at length, "then I think we are obligated to find it."

___________________________________________________

The following morning, as the companions gathered their gear and prepared to trek further into the ruins, Koya approached Zula.
"I consulted the Harrow this morning," the old woman said without preamble. "The cards told me that an exploration of this city carries both risk and reward."
"Obviously," Zula nodded.
"However," Koya continued, somewhat irritated, "they also told me that the tale of the madwoman Miriya does not tell the whole story. The Crown that she carries is not cursed, but it bears some great virtue against the oni and their kind, and it was for this reason that they sought it out and tried to destroy it and all who knew of it."

_______________________________________________

Sandru found the low bunker just where Xam had described it. The blue-black stone structure protruded from the ice at the base of a monolith over a half-mile in height. Dimly visible beneath a thick layer of frost was a faint tracery of silvery wire inlaid in a repeating star-like pattern encircling a hexagonal portal in the bunker's face. To the right of the portal was a hexagonal panel of milky-white crystal, spider-webbed with cracks and smashed through in several places.

Haroldo hacked away the icy covering with his blade, and Zula bent to examine the panel.
"It's similar to the ones in the Storm Tower," she said, mostly to herself. "Someone didn't want it functional. Maybe your mysterious ninja woman, Sandru. I think, however, that with a little time, I may be able to repair it."
She bent to the task, working like a master craftsman. Her fingers deftly manipulated the fine structures within the panel, until finally it flared with blue light, and the hexagonal sections of the portal slid aside.

Beyond the doorway was a ramp heading down. A bit down the hexagonal corridor, tiny pinpoints of blue light flickered into view, emanating from the floor at regular intervals.
"Just as Xam said," Sandru observed. "A long corridor lined with blue lights. Miriya was last seen going that way."
As the companions moved down the ramp, more of the lights continued to appear when they approached. The ramp continued a few hundred feet, descending gently, before it disgorged onto a square platform lit by similar lights. The floors and walls of the chamber were covered in cracked tiles, smeared with some dark residue. To the left and right were the ruined remnants of what may once have been smaller rooms, though whether they were closets, cells or even sleeping quarters was impossible to tell. All that remained were the broken bases of interior walls and what may have been horizontal shelves or bunks. Directly ahead, a metallic jamb or frame held fragments of a shattered glassine wall. Beyond, steps dropped down to a sunken catwalk. As they walked among the broken fragments, Zula bent down when she noticed a metallic object gleaming in the dim light. It was a circular pendant engraved with a star pattern on both sides. Not knowing what to make of it, she tucked it away in her tunic.

The metallic grated catwalk extended down another hexagonal tunnel leading off into darkness. Unlike the previous one, this one was unlit. The walls were made of stone, cracked in many places, and slick with moisture, with patches of slimy residue congealing in many places. At irregular intervals, the cracks opened into wider crevices, no more than a foot wide, where the residue was thicker. Mazael was leading the group, and as he stepped over one of these crevices, the black substance within suddenly rose up as a large, amorphous mass.
"Watch out!" Lucian shouted as he quickly loosed three arrows towards the thing.
To his dismay, as each arrow struck, the ooze split apart, until four of the blobs now filled the corridor.
"Stand aside!" Zula commanded.
She opened her throat, and the resulting sonic boom blasted all four of the oozes apart.

_____________________________________________________

Ahead in the distance in the seemingly endless tunnel, there was a flickering blue light, guttering out and then after a brief span wanly returning before again going dark. Approaching closer, the companions could see the battered hulk of a hexagonal metallic tube, with cracked bubble-like windows along both sides and at each end. Several bluish lights seemed to be moving inside the hulk. As they moved towards the wreckage, a half-dozen hunched, misshapen humanoids clutching long shards of metal emerged from within. They were clad only in rags and sagging drapes of skin, and their flesh glowed with a pale blue light, their eyes a baleful red.

The creatures rushed forward in a swarm, moving so swiftly that they were among the heroes before they could react. One of them stabbed Mazael in the back with its spear as it passed. Mongo tripped and stabbed one before it could reach him, and Haroldo struck another. Lucian shot a third one, but none of the wretched things would fall. It was almost as if blows deflected off their strange skin. To make matters worse, another black pudding-like ooze rose up behind the companions, attracted by the sounds of the melee.

Zula made quick work of the ooze, just as she'd done with the previous one. Her compatriots fought frantically as the resilient morlocks scrambled around them like rats. The creatures took more punishment than seemed possible before falling, leaving the heroes bloodied but with no serious wounds. They gathered themselves and pushed past the wrecked vehicle, continuing down into darkness.

The Forbidden City

6 Erastus, 4715

After a long traverse of the hex-tunnel, passing occasional dripping crevices and black sludge pools teeming with tiny white worms, but seeing naught else save for nearly transparent spiders and black-shelled arthropods with red, glowing eyes, the companions saw a catwalk rising above them, and beyond it a ramp leading up. A metal jamb held the remnant of a shattered glass wall, much like the one they passed at the tunnel's other end. Beyond this, the ramp continued another couple of hundred feet before emerging into a large chamber crafted of stone, tile and metal, with large windows, mostly broken. Strangely curved mosaics and carvings, looking almost half-melted, decorated the walls while vaguely disturbing statuary in an inhuman style stood at the foot of each pillar between the great windows. There were no obvious doors visible, though the empty steel window frames offered ample egress into the unearthly cityscape beyond.

"What that?" Boris asked, pointing towards something high on one wall. "Look like metal spider."
Haroldo looked up to where the goblin was pointing, and his eyes went wide. Clinging to to the wall above one of the windows was a tiny steel creature with one oversized eye, a spherical body, and several spider-like legs of grinding metal. An identical one sat motionless on the opposite wall.
"Clockwork spies," the blood-rager said. "My father used similar constructs to infiltrate the businesses of his rivals. They have small gems inside them that can record sounds...like conversations."
"There's something etched into their carapaces," Piotr said, squinting to make out the detail. "A sigil maybe?"
"It Tian," Boris remarked. "Ameiko teach Boris when Boris make her yummy dinner. Boris think it mean...fancy white bird or something."
"White peacock?" Piotr asked.
"Maybe," the goblin shrugged. "Boris go check out."
"Wait!" Piotr said, holding up one hand. "The other one might spot you and run. Let me cover you."
Boris nodded. "Fire-wizard pretty smart," he said, tapping on bony finger against his forehead.

Piotr drew a wand from his belt and flicked it as he spoke a command word. The air in front of the nearest clockwork spy shimmered for a moment, and then an image appeared. It looked to be an exact copy of the wall to which the automaton clung.
"Now!" the sorcerer commanded. "When you step through the illusion, the other construct won't see you!"
Boris nodded again, enthusiastically. He darted through the mirage and then clambered stealthily up the wall. The clockwork spy remained motionless, apparently unaware of his presence. He could see the gem stone set inside the thing's eye socket, and he reached carefully forward and deftly plucked it out, grinning. At that moment, the thing sprang into motion with a high-pitched, mechanical screech. It thrashed its sharp legs at Boris, who dodged nimbly away. Then the goblin heard a whirring, clanking noise immediately below him. He looked down and saw that one of the statues at the base of a nearby pillar had animated. Cogs and gears were visible in the gaps of the metallic creature's armor. It wielded a pole-arm as it snapped to attention and peered up at Boris. Boris shrieked and leaped from the wall, tumbling to the floor and through the illusory wall. He darted across the chamber and then climbed the far wall, where he grabbed the second clockwork spy before it could try to escape. To his horror, another statue, again just below him on the floor, came to life and glared up at him with baleful, red eyes.

Lucian shook his head when he saw what was transpiring. He pivoted towards the first clockwork spy, which was still thrashing about on the wall, and put an arrow through its carapace. It fell to the floor, convulsing for a moment, before exploding in a small burst of flame. Then his eyes widened when he saw the first statue charging across the floor towards him. As it drew near, it whipped its pole-arm around in a wide arc, and slashed across both of the oracle's arms. He cried out in agony as he momentarily lost feeling in his hands.
"Get behind me!" Mazael shouted as he tried put himself between Lucian and the machine. It slashed at him as he moved, opening a deep gouge in his thigh.
"I've got it!" Piotr cried as he tossed off a volley of magic missiles, only to see them deflect harmlessly off of the thing's metallic hide.
"No!" Lucian snarled, blood running down his arms. "I've got it!"
He loosed three arrows over Mazael's shoulder, from point-blank range. All three struck true, one of them piercing through some sort of rubber tube in the automaton's neck, sending viscous fluid spraying through the air. The thing shuddered, went rigid, and then fell immobile to the ground.
"Good work, for an archer," Mazael said grudgingly.
"Look out!" Lucian shouted, pointing behind the war-priest.
Mazael whirled and saw the second clockwork soldier closing in on him. He braced himself for another blow, but instead it reached out one metal clawed-hand, and wrenched Suishen from his grasp.

Across the chamber, Boris managed to pin the mechanical spider against the wall, and then pried the gemstone out of its eye socket.
"Boris have it!" he shouted triumphantly, holding aloft the gem.
When he glanced around, however, he saw that his companions were otherwise occupied.

Seeing that his magic missiles had no effect, Piotr tried another tactic. He quickly cast another spell, and released an ear piercing shriek that sent the automaton stumbling back a step or two, but then it lumbered forward again. As it came, Mongo jammed his halberd between its legs and sent it tumbling to the floor. As it tripped, he rammed the blade of the pole-arm into its inner workings. It screeched inhumanly, then struggled back upright. Haroldo leaped forward and hacked at it as it rose, but it caught his blade and turned it with Suishen, then quickly reversed the parry and slashed at the blood-rager with the Amatatsu relic, setting his clothes aflame. As he batted at the fire, Lucian put an arrow into the construct's hip socket, slowing its momentum. Still smoldering, Haroldo gripped his sword tightly and hacked down with all his might, driving the blade through most of the soldier's gears. Finally, it ground to a halt. A moment later, chagrined, Mazael snatched Suishen out of its hand.
'I may need to rethink my choice of wielder,' the sword said, its voice dripping with disdain.

____________________________________________________

Perhaps because the wind was buffered by the strange monoliths stretching in all directions, the polar chill was less intense than beyond the bunker where the companions entered the ruins, though frost still rimed every surface. The atrium opened onto a plaza, with narrow avenues extending in all directions between massive angular towers of metal, stone and glass, much weathered and scarred by time and the elements. Here and there, large, twisted green plants twined up the sides of ancient buildings, and occasionally a whisper of movement was seen through the haze of bluish radiance shrouding the sky above.

The heroes had no idea where to start their search for Miriya or the White Peacock crown in the strange cityscape, but they new she had come this way at some time in the past. They spread out within the plaza and began looking for any trace of her passing, and after an hour or so of searching, it was Mazael that discovered the first evidence: a scuffed boot print made by someone with a small foot...perhaps a woman.

They followed the tracks through the winding streets, but they were few and far between, requiring a lot of time hunting amidst the ruins. Along the way, the companions ran afoul of small packs of force morlocks, which were efficiently dealt with before continuing their search. Occasionally, they spotted another clockwork spy high on a building wall, but Lucian was able to destroy them with well-placed arrows before they could escape. Once, they even stumbled into a huge moonflower, though the specimen was smaller than the one they'd encountered in the Storm Tower, and easily dealt with by one or two fireballs courtesy of Piotr.

Finally, the faint traces they had been following converged on a building with wide, low steps leading up to shattered glass doors flanked by massive stone pillars. A similar doorway provided egress farther down the building's facade, but the nearer doorway, in the shadow of a collapsed sky-bridge overhead, revealed a curious lump of vaguely human-looking metallic sculpture atop the remnants of a pedestal. Across a rubble and ice-choked boulevard the fallen bridge once spanned, lay a companion building, blockier in shape and with what appeared to be a long-empty fountain.

As the heroes examined the buildings, a ragged crone dressed in furs and robes suddenly stepped out of the shadows of a narrow alley. A weathered bow was in her hands, an arrow knocked but not drawn. Though frail with age, a hard light was in her eyes. With a suspicious glare, she addressed them in heavily accented Common.
"Who are you, strangers? What do you want? Cannot an old woman who has caused more misery than anyone should, be left alone to die in peace...if I even can die here? That thrice-damned light has stretched my years too long already, I think. Either way, there is nothing for you here. Go, and be glad you did."
"Is your name Miriya?" Lucian asked.
"That name no longer has any meaning for me!" the old woman snapped. "If you came here following tales of treasure, there is none, only desolation and loneliness. Maybe you heard I had something of great worth. You heard wrong. I had nothing. I am nothing. You should go while you still can. If you stay too long, the light will take hold of you. Have you seen those poor wretches that live below? That will be your fate as it surely will be mine. Maybe it will be sweeter to forget anyway."
"We are traveling with the last surviving scion of House Amatatsu," Lucian explained. "We are returning her to Minkai to take her rightful place on the Jade Throne. The oni of the Five Storms oppose us, and we heard that the White Peacock Crown might aid in our struggle against them."
The woman sighed, and bowed her head.
"It seems that we may have enemies in common," she replied. "Yes, Miriya, that was my name, and yes I stole the Crown. Thought it would make me famous, and so it did, or infamous at least. Fate is not without a sense of humor, it seems, though I've never found it funny. I was cast out and I ran, here and there, trying to hide it, to let the world be rid of its curse, if cursed it truly was. I don't know. All I knew was fear, and I kept running all the way to the ends of the earth. Those merchants, Xam and Odashu, they helped me get here, but once I got here, I was out of ideas."
"I sought for years for the perfect hiding place, knowing that someday the oni would catch me. I couldn't let them find it. I kept following the strange little metal spiders, and finally found a great machine that seemed to build them and repair them and their kin. I sneaked inside the machine...I was trained in stealth, after all...and hid the crown inside, but something went wrong. The machine turned on, and it sprayed something strange on me. As I stumbled away, dizzy, it stabbed at me with some kind of long arm. I got away, but not long after I started seeing a strange new creature in the ruins. It looked like me, or me as I was in my youth, but half flesh and half metal. Somehow it had drawn my thoughts out, and made weapons like I once used long ago. It was as if my body and mind had been turned inside out and poured into a mold. What came out was that THING! It watches me sometimes. I know it does, and it has stopped me from getting back into the machine to retrieve the Crown, but it does not kill me. I don't know why. I've seen it kill many others, but that mercy is forever denied me."
"I can show you where the great machine is. Perhaps I can even draw out my doppelganger. Perhaps our combined strength can succeed where I alone could not. Then we can destroy the machine and retrieve the Crown so that we may use it to overthrow the oni that plague my homeland."

The True Guardian

6 Erastus, 4715-7 Erastus, 4715-The True Guardian

"Movement!" Mazael shouted in warning. "On the roof!"
He pointed across the wide avenue to the angled rooftop of a nearby building. There, crouched atop the peak, was a black-clad figure. The slight physique suggested a female, but with its face shrouded in dark cloth, it was difficult to be certain. Metal glinted all over its body, protruding from the folds of its clothing at odd angles, and small blue lights winked on and off along its limbs. At Mazael's warning, the figure stood and drew a star-shaped disc from its cloak the size of a dinner plate. This she hurled with a flick of her wrist, and it spun through the air and stuck in Lucian's shoulder. The oracle cried out in pain, but before he could pull the shuriken loose, it exploded with a flash of blue fire, scorching his face and arm. A moment later, the mysterious assassin simply vanished.
"Damn ninjas!" Piotr hissed, remembering all too well the deadly warriors they had encountered at Ravenscraag. The sorcerer cast a spell, and the air around the companions began to hum with energy.
"She won't be sneaking up on us now!" he announced.
"It is the doppleganger!" Miriya shouted. "I told you she would come for me! I am too old for such a battle. If she catches me, she will try to take me back to the machine! I will cover you with my bow, but I will not stay here!"
With that, she closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated, furrowing her brow. Then she opened them again, and rose up into the air, flying to a nearby rooftop.
"Since when do ninja's cast spells?" Mazael wondered aloud.

"She's here!" Lucian shouted.
From out of thin air, landing in a nimble crouch, the dark assassin appeared in the midst of the heroes. Piotr's spell had rendered her unable to use her vanishing trick, and she looked around in mild surprise. Up close, it was obvious that her body was as much metal as flesh and bone. She rose to her feet with the mechanical whine of gears and motors.
"Fools!" she spat in Tian, which only Boris and Piotr could understand. "Slaves to evil! You will never have it! NEVER! Die with your foul masters!"
She flicked another shuriken at Sandru. It grazed the caravan master's arm, but he dove to the side, just avoiding its explosion.
"Boris not know what you talking about, crazy machine-lady," the goblin replied in the same language, lunging towards her, "but Boris stab you anyway so you stop talking."
As he moved forward, however, the ninja drew out a length of chain linking a sharp blade on one end and a weighted metal ball on the other. She whipped it towards the goblin, entangling his feet and yanking them from under him.
"Now, my minions!" she cried, pointing towards the metallic sculptures that stood in front of the building on the far side of the street.
With a lurch of metal on metal, two of them rumbled into motion and began lumbering towards the melee. As they closed, Mongo stuck out his halberd and sent one of them tumbling to the ground. The second one moved past him and swung with its own pole-arm at Piotr, dealing the sorcerer and massive blow that nearly knocked him from his feet. Lucian quickly snapped off a shot at the automaton, but his arrow glanced off its metal hide. He then pivoted and fired at the ninja, but she deftly batted the shaft out of the air with her bare hand. She whirled and her fist shot out, striking Sandru in the throat as he moved to flank her. She spun again and delivered a straight-leg kick into Mongo's gut as he closed in.

"Wait, crazy machine-lady!" Boris gasped, holding up his hands as she stalked towards him where he still lay on the ground. "We not here to fight you! Old ninja-woman tell us you try to kill her when she try and get back her bird hat!"
"Exactly!" she spat back at him. "You are trying to steal the Crown and give it to the oni!"
"What??" Boris shrieked. "No! We fight oni! We kill oni! We taking lost empress Ameiko back to homeland to get green chair from oni!"
"Green chair?" the woman asked suspiciously. "Do you mean the Jade Throne?"
"Yes!" Boris nodded. "That what Boris say! We want white bird hat to help her!"
"Then why are you with THAT oni!?" she hissed, pointing towards the roof where Miriya still crouched.
"Liar!" Miriya shouted back. "Don't believe her! Remember what I told you! She was created to replace me! She will kill us all!"
"Mazael?" Piotr asked, turning towards the war-priest. "Does Helgarvarl detect any evil from this woman?"
'No, my friend,' the angel spoke into Mazael's mind.
"He says not," Mazael relayed the message.
"What about her?" Piotr nodded towards the old woman on the roof.
"Let's find out," the war-priest growled.
He began walking into the air, courtesy of Suishen, and as he drew closer to Miriya, she tensed visibly.
"What are you doing??" she cried. "Destroy that imposter!"
"We'll see who's the imposter," Mazael replied. "Helgarvarl?"
'There is evil here,'" the angel confirmed.
"She's lying!" Mazael shouted, pointing at the crone.
"Fools!" she snapped. "You will all die here! I swear it!"
She turned and flew from the rooftop, disappearing rapidly into the ruins.

________________________________________________

The ninja commanded her clockwork soldiers to stand down, and the companions warily put away their own weapons as well.
"Who are you?" Piotr asked in Tian.
"I am Miriya," the woman replied simply.
"That's who the old woman told us she was," the sorcerer said. "She said some sort of machine had made a mechanical doppelganger of her."
Miriya laughed, a hollow, metallic sound.
"Would you expect anything but lies and fabrication from an oni?" she asked.
"Oni?" Piotr queried. "What do you mean?"
Miriya sighed and sat cross-legged on the ground.
"If you came her searching for the White Peacock Crown, they I assume you know it was me who stole it all those years ago."
"Yes," Pitor nodded. "Our caravan master heard the tale from the merchants Xam and Odashu."
Miriya smiled humorlessly.
"Yes, they were loyal companions," she said. "They did not want to leave me here, but I insisted. Within weeks after they departed, I stumbled upon a barely sentient machine that sought to steal my mind and make me a thoughtless automaton. So strong was my will to live, however, that a spark of humanity remained within me. I renewed my vigil to protect the Crown from the oni that I knew would probably find me again. I set about turning the strange, living machines of this city to serve my purposes. When the oni finally came, they were taken off guard to find me still young and hale. I lured them to the great machine that created me, but for them it held only death and rebirth as cybernetic slaves. Only one of the oni escaped, called Liao Ku. It was him that you encountered, disguised as my older self. He sought to trick you into facing the great machine yourselves and retrieve the Crown for him. He must be hunted down, lest he take word of the Crown's location back to his masters, as well as news of your empress."
"Can you help us obtain the Crown?" Piotr asked. "It would be of great value to Ameiko in regaining her birthright. We have already slain several members of the Five Storms, but it is only a matter of time before we face them again."
"I cannot fight the great machine directly," Miriya shook her head, "but I can lead you to its lair, and aid you as I may. Be warned, however, not all of you may return from this endeavor alive."

__________________________________________________

Miriya took the companions to her home,a sparsely furnished chamber in a small building sheltered by inner walls amidst the detritus of ages, where a long metal table held several scraps of cloth stretched across makeshift frames, showing faded patterns of embroidery in the Tian style. Dozens of bottles in all shapes and sizes were arranged neatly, as was a collection of metallic and glass bowls which held strange powders and residues, alongside strange metal devices of uncertain function. A flat slab of stone, marred with many scratches, seemed to function as a bed, with a gossamer veil surrounding it. A metallic man bustled about the room, cleaning and polishing the floor to a shine.

The heroes rested the night and regained their strength in relative safety. The following morning, Miriya led them to a building that she called the manufactory. In contrast to the towering facades and monoliths around it, the structure was comparatively low-slung, set into a natural rise with a metallic portal offering access to the upper level, and a second set of metal doors at the foot of the slope allowing access to the lower level. Miriya went to the upper set of doors, a metallic portal comprised of horizontal plates of metal ten feet wide. A slotted crystalline panel lay inside a glazed cabinet set into the wall beside the door. Miriya fiddled with the panel for a moment, and the doors slid aside.

As the companions entered the building, pale blue lights winked into view in the floor, walls and ceiling. Halfway into the room there was a raised platform of metallic plates and mesh braced several feet off the floor, supported on a series of drums and wheels, with the platform seemingly wrapped underneath them as well. The platform passed through a low opening in the far wall only a few feet high, covered by a screen of metallic mesh. A rhythmic hum could be heard beyond the opening. Several crystalline panels were set into the far wall, which was solid metal up to shoulder height, and opaque crystal above. Boris crept forward to examine the apparatus as his friends hung back. Just as he reached the platform, however, he saw a flicker of movement from beneath it. A clockwork spider scurried on top of it and reached out one of its legs to tap out a series of touches on one of the crystal panels. The wheels beneath the platform began to turn, and the wrap-around metal plates began to move. The spider was carried forward and through the metallic mesh, which parted easily to admit the belt of rotating plates.
"Boris get him!" the goblin shouted, and then he dove atop the conveyor belt before his companions could protest.

The belt carried the goblin through the metal mesh and into a vast chamber beyond. It was strewn with cables and machinery. A great machine dominated the room, seeming almost to squat over a golden-glowing circular pit, with small arms reaching outward, while a single metallic tendril writhed sinuously like a clawed hand and glaring eye in one. Two half-mechanical brutes dressed in armor of Eastern manufacture stood nearby on guard, while smaller mechanical beings scuttled over tumbled heaps of arcane circuitry. The moving metallic walkway upon which Boris rode, dropped at an angle down to the floor thirty feet below, where it circled around the the massive machine before looping back around underneath its slanting upper course, passing out through another narrow aperture in another wall. A catwalk of metallic grates with pole-like railings mostly encircled the huge sunken workroom. Untold numbers of cables, conduits, hoists, hooks and pulleys hung from a vast network of girders above. A large, open metal stairwell spiraled down to the floor below, and just across it, another hulking half-metallic humanoid stood armed with a bow and blade. At each corner of the room stood a bank of strange devices tended by a vaguely human mechanical creature, similar to the ones moving about below.

Boris took all of this in within seconds, and then he reached into his pocket and drew out a flask. He pulled the cork with his teeth and quaffed the potion, then flew off of the belt and into the air like an ugly bird. He landed on the nearby catwalk, where he saw a door leading back into the entry chamber where he'd left his friends. It had not been visible from that side. The hulking cyborg on the other side of the stairwell began lurching towards him, and his hands flew across the locking mechanism. At the last second, he heard it click, and he flung the door open, shocked and relieved to see Mazael waiting on the other side. The war-priest shoved Boris aside as he stepped out onto the catwalk, placing himself between Boris and the oncoming cyborg. Just then, Boris saw one of the mechanical men standing in the corner do something to manipulate the bank of machinery in front of it. A grinding noise came from above, and when Boris looked up, he saw a long metallic arm descend from the roof and seize Mazael in its grip. The war-priest bellowed in anger as it pinned his arms to his side, keeping him from bringing up Suishen to block the swing of the cyborg's great-sword as it fell and slashed him from shoulder to hip, piercing his armor and opening a terrible wound. Then, a long hose snaked down from the rafters above. At its tip was a metal nozzle, and this pivoted towards Boris. Before he could leap away, it sprayed a viscous, black fluid straight into the goblin's eyes, blinding him.

At that moment, Mazael saw a blur of movement as Miriya somersaulted out onto the catwalk. The ninja whirled the blade of her kusarigama above her head, then flung it at the cyborg. The edge sliced through its putrid flesh, releasing a great gout of vile green fluid. Boris witnessed this as he wiped the burning sludge from his eyes. The he saw Mazael wrench himself loose from the grip of the mechanical arm, using Desna's blessing to break free. Boris moved towards the war-priest, but then the metal arm pivoted towards him and struck him a solid blow to his chest. He stumbled backwards. Mazael didn't seem to notice. He lunged towards the cyborg, blood flowing freely from his wound. Suishen sliced into the monster, setting flames dancing through its skin. However, in his haste, Mazael had moved right to the edge of the catwalk's railing, and he failed to see the flailing tendril of the great machine below until it was too late. It whipped through the air and slammed into him with devastating force. Mazael was shoved forward, where the cyborg was waiting. The war-priest's momentum drove him straight into the point of the creature's sword, impaling him. Mazael slumped, his eyes closing, then slid backwards to the catwalk, Suishen dropping from his numb fingers.

Mongo reached the catwalk about the same time as Mazael fell. He saw the giant cyborg still standing over his fallen companion and he lifted his pole-arm as he moved towards it. He saw the whip-like tendril coming for him a moment before Miriya shouted a warning. It latched onto him with bone-crushing strength, and snatched him bodily from the platform, holding him high in the air. From the doorway, Lucian rapidly fired four arrows into the flailing appendage, but it did not loosen its grip. Boris leaped into the air and hacked at the tendril. It flexed, and for a moment, the goblin though he'd succeeded, but then it uncoiled and hurled Mongo across the vast chamber. He landed in a heap on the floor, right next to the main body of the great machine. The two cyborgs that stood nearby slowly turned their heads towards him and began to advance.

From his position behind Lucian, Piotr could see across the room to where one of the mechanical men still stood in front of its panel, whatever buttons it was pushing causing the hoses and arms on the ceiling to move towards his friends. The sorcerer cast a spell, and a pit suddenly opened beneath the feet of the robot. It fell without a sound into a pool of caustic acid at the bottom of the hole.

Miriya tumbled nimbly behind the cyborg as Sandru stepped onto the platform and moved to flank the brute. It caught him a glancing blow with its sword as he closed in, but then he and the ninja struck in concert, opening several gaping rents in its hide.

Mongo raised his head, dizzily, just in time to see the cyborgs looming over him. He reached for his halberd, but then the two giants brought their great-swords down, and he knew no more...

Lucian fired more arrows at the cyborg trapped between Miriya and Sandru, his shots finally bringing it down. He pivoted and fired another volley at one of the clockwork men in a nearby corner, causing it to explode as every shot struck true. Behind him, Piotr created a second pit beneath another of the robots, and it plummeted from view. With the catwalk clear, Boris landed again and reached down to grab Suishen. He tucked the sword safely across his back while Sandru lifted Mazael's limp form over his shoulder and carried him out of the chamber.

On the factory floor, the great machine lifted Mongo's lifeless body and then bored into his skull with a dozen small tendrils. A moment later, the Mwangi's eyes snapped open, a milky film covering them. He began lurching about like a puppet on a string, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. Piotr looked on in horror. He gathered arcane energy into his palm and hurled it towards the floor. It exploded in green fire, showering the central processor, the giant cyborgs, the clockwork robots, and Mongo with burning acid. When the blast cleared, only one of the cyborgs and the great machine were still intact.

The surviving companions were stunned. They stood on the catwalk looking at the carnage below. As they watched, the remaining cyborg lurched towards the stairwell and began climbing towards them. Worse, the central processor itself wrenched its massive bulk from the floor and began slowly, laboriously, crawling their way. Lucian fired at it as it advanced, and Piotr hurled another acid ball. Boris rushed across the catwalk to intercept the approaching cyborg, but before he could reach it, the processor's tendril grabbed him from behind and began crushing the life out of him. Lucian kept up his barrage of arrows, desperately trying to bring down the infernal machine. Beside him, Piotr cast the last of his acidic fireballs. The central processor was in ruins, pieces of it falling to the floor, and great holes melted into its carapace, yet still it would not release the goblin. Boris managed to wriggle one arm free as his vision began to darken, and he hacked and hacked at the tendril, until finally, it went limp and released him. Before he lost consciousness, he saw Sandru and Miriya close on the last cyborg and chop it to pieces.

___________________________________________________

Miriya held up the ornate headpiece, which had been crafted of white gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli and spangled with dozens of jewels.
"It has many powers," she explained, "but chief among them is its ability to allow the wearer to detect the presence of shapechangers, including oni. They will never be able to deceive you again. I present it to you so that you may give it to the Destined Empress."
"Why don't you give it to her yourself?" Piotr asked. "There is nothing here for you know. Come home with us."
Miriya lowered her eyes and was silent for a moment.
"I...I would be honored," she said quietly.

The companions gathered their wounded and their dead then, with Miriya accompanying them, retraced their path out of the ruined city. Unseen by any of them, a pair of hateful eyes watched them go...