THE TABERNACLE OF WORMS
A voice spoke softly but urgently into Giovanni’s mind. He recognized it immediately as that of Malchor Harpell.
‘I need to scry your location. Stay where you are. I have a gift for you.’
The communication was curt and to the point, all the hallmarks of a Sending. The warlock trusted the archmage implicitly, and he opened his mind to the probing fingers of the scry. A moment later, a bright circle of light appeared on the ground in front of the group, and a shadowy, blocky figure stepped out of it. As the light faded and their eyes readjusted to the gloom of the Fissure, the members of the League gazed upon the distinctive rock-like features of Grim. For a moment, everyone was speechless.
“Don’t get all gushy on me,” the mineralized dwarf rumbled, “I think I’m startin’ ta tear up.”
Hawk stepped forward, stripping his gauntlet from his hand and offering it to his old friend.
“It is indeed good to see you, and you could not have come at a more opportune time, but I think I speak for us all when I say we are more than a bit surprised to see you. Last we heard, you were returning to your people in Citadel Adbar.”
“And so I did,” Grim nodded, “but I’ve since learned that you can’t outrun your responsibilities. Not long after I got back, reports started coming in from outlying patrols of some sort of zombies roaming the hills. I was suspicious right away, and when I went to check things out for myself, sure enough the little buggers were full of worms. Well, with the way those things reproduce, it wasn’t long until we had a full-scale infestation. I did what I could, gave the elders the information I had, but any victory we won was temporary. Finally, I realized that the only way to stem the tide was at its source. I went to Longsaddle looking for you, and Harpell told me where to find you, so here I am.”
“Again, welcome,” Hawk said. “I’m not sure if Malchor told you what we are doing here, but the short version is that we managed to destroy the phylactery of Dragotha, Kyuss’ dracolich general. Now we’ve tracked the wyrm here, and we intend to destroy him once and for all, thereby stalling Kyuss’ return further, if we are lucky.”
“I’m with you till the end,” Grim said, putting out his hand. One-by-one, the others laid their own hands atop his.
_______________________________________________________
Havok remained in his fiendish incarnation, and drawing on that forms abilities, he rendered the entire group, including Alice, whom Hawk had called to transport the slower members of the party, invisible. Traveling thus, the League made their way down the twisting tunnel until at last they saw a grisly, green glow ahead, and heard the haunting sound of a strange hissing. The passageway opened onto a relatively narrow ledge that overlooked an immense circular cavern lit by the nauseating green light. The cavern seemed to be roughly ovoid in shape. The walls, ceiling and floor shimmered here and there with phosphorescent fungi, but the predominant source of lighting was a sloshing lake of thick, green slime at the far end of the cave. Several turgid waterfalls of the stuff drooled from openings high up on the far wall of the cave, and every so often thick shapes of the things that dwelled within the slime lake rippled against its surface. The lake’s beaches were a horrific mix of dried, crusty slime and millions of writhing worms that feasted on the stuff, the sound of their rasping mouths working in unison filled the cavern with a strangely soothing hiss.
On the closest shore of the nightmare lake, yet still nearly a half-mile from the ledge, loomed an immense pile of stalagmites and up thrust pillars of green rock that formed a natural castle. A huge central pillar of stone rose up from the fortress to merge with the roof above. Six smaller stalagmite-like towers rose around the structure’s perimeter. Coiled around each of these spires were immense green worms, their fanged heads twitching lazily to and fro like sentinels, observing the cavern around them. A moat of green sludge surrounded the structure, and a single, crooked bridge arched up over it to a pair of massive stone doors.
The companions debated how best to approach the fortress for several minutes. While it was obvious that the overworms were the watch-dogs, and would certainly sound an alarm if they revealed themselves, it was also true that Balakarde had warned them to leave none of Dragotha’s minions alive, lest he should call upon them when at last they faced the wyrm. In the end, it was decided to heed Balakarde’s advice. Faust would transport the bulk of the group to the front door, via dimensional hopping, while Havok would teleport himself simultaneously within range to strike at the same time the others arrived. The plan seemed fool-proof, but as was true of even the best-laid plans, that assumption would prove false.
No sooner had Faust and the others, though still cloaked in invisibility, appeared before the massive gates of the Tabernacle, than the nearest pair of worms, on the southeast and southwest towers, swiveled their heads towards them and began bellowing roars that shook the pillars of the cavern. Mak whirled towards the one to the southeast and brought his hand down in a chopping motion. Instantly, a column of flame engulfed the behemoth in holy fire. At that same moment Havok, hovering some five-hundred feet away over the sea of slime, called upon the dark powers of his fiendish form to unleash a swarm of meteor-like balls of flame. One after the other they struck the overworm, threatening to knock it loose from its precarious perch. Suddenly, the second worm began uncoiling from its spire and slithered towards the group. En masse, Mak, Hawk and Grim drew their weapons, all gleaming with a silvery coating, and charged towards the oncoming brute, each utilizing their individual powers of flight. With a force almost equaling Havok’s assault, they struck the worm, stopping it in its tracks. While the first worm still reeled from the fiendish warlock’s opening salvo, Havok struck again, this time with a simple fire ball. Slowly, the creature began to slip from the spire, but not before Faust rushed towards it, one hand outstretched. As he touched it, its entire body crumbled to black dust as the psion assimilated its essence with his own.
_______________________________________________________
In a shallow niche on the far east side of the fortress, Zyrinth was roused from his slumber by the sounds of explosions. The wyvern came fully awake, whipping his head this way and that, searching for the source of the assault. He quickly determined that the main gates were under attack. Slipping quietly from his cave, he swooped silently around the northeast tower, hovering near its apex.
‘Venk,’ he called out in his mind.
‘I am here,’ his rider replied immediately. ‘I’m coming.’
_________________________________________________________
Again the goliath, civilar and dwarf struck, with deadly precision, their silver weapons tearing through the overworm’s hide as if it were paper. With a final shriek, the monstrous worm tumbled down the side of the castle and into the viscous moat below.
‘Keep moving!’ Havok called out through the Mind Link. ‘We’ve got them by surprise!’
With that, he teleported to the western side of the Tabernacle, directly opposite a third overworm. Faust, Mak, Grim and Hawk quickly followed, closing quickly upon the worm…leaving Grubber behind. The priest watched the others disappear around the battlements, wishing he could join them, but knowing that Grumbar must have some other plan for him. Instead, he called upon the powers of his spider silk cloak, and crawled beneath the bridge, watching for any signs of defenders from the keep.
__________________________________________________
Venk appeared out of thin air astride Zyrinth’s back.
‘Go!’ she commanded and the wyvern wheeled in a tight circle, back towards the front of the keep. As they rounded the southeast spire, noting that its overworm guardian was no longer there, they had a clear view of the bridge and the front gates. They also had a clear view of the goliath, luminous armor shining like a beacon in the dark, clinging to the underside of the span.
____________________________________________________
At first Grubber thought he was only hearing echoes from the distant battle, but after another moment, he was certain that what he had heard was the beating of wings. Large wings. Much larger than Mak’s. Peering out from his concealment, he saw the dragon hovering near the top of the near spire. On its back was a short woman, with bone white skin, hair and eyes. She held a golden trident clutched in one hand…and she was looking right at him.
‘Um, sorry to interrupt,’ he spoke through the Mind Link, ‘but I think I might be in trouble.’
Looking below him, and seeing the moat of slime, he knew that he did not want to be in his current position should the dragon rider attack. Hastily, he scrambled back to the top of the bridge, just as the dragon began to dive.
_____________________________________________
The third overworm fell amidst a frenzy of whirling blades, and slashing claws as Havok, Mak, Hawk and Grim made quick work of it. At that precise moment, Grubber’s warning came through.
‘I’ll go,’ Havok told the others. ‘Keep going. Silence the other worms. I’ll call if we need back up.’
‘Yer gettin’ it anyway,’ Grim grumbled as he turned and began flying back towards the castle entrance. Havok nodded, before vanishing as he teleported away. Though Mak looked troubled, he knew that if Havok, Grim and his brother could not handle the newest threat, then it might well be beyond them all. He followed Hawk and Faust, making for the next guardian worm.
A hammer-shaped burst of force struck Venk and Zyrinth as they descended. The blow rocked the pair, but did nothing to truly slow their charge. Venk’s body, by virtue of her unholy ancestry, immediately began mending the burns on her skin. Suddenly, the air shimmered next to the goliath, and a huge, horned and winged devil stood beside it on the bridge. Was this some new servant of the master? Venk wondered. If so, then the goliath would be dead before he even knew what hit him. Still, she wanted to share in that glory. Extending her free hand, she unleashed a burst of emerald light.
‘An eldritch blast?’ Havok gaped in astonishment as the bolt struck Grubber full in the chest, knocking the priest back to the edge of the bridge. ‘Another warlock?’ He had never in his life met another such as he, and her fire was green…like his. What could it mean? He had no time to ponder the question further, as the wyvern hammered into Grubber at full speed. As it passed, Havok lashed out with his tail, wrapping it around the little warlock, and ripping her from her saddle. He raised her up before his eyes, squeezing as hard as he could. He felt his blood begin to boil. He would have answers, or he would crush the life out of her. It was only then that he saw Grubber toppling over the side of the bridge, hurtling towards the moat below.
As Grubber fell, he managed to twist his body just enough so that he struck the rocky ground instead of the viscous sludge in the moat. The impact hurt…a lot, and it was made even worse by the fact that he had landed in the midst of thousands of writhing, biting Kyuss worms. Fortunately, he had imbibed a potion prior to the battle, making his skin as tough as the bark of an ironwood tree. The little vermin could not burrow in. Quickly, he scrambled to his feet. Then, taking three quick strides, he leaped across the moat, slamming into the wall on the far side, his hands and feet sticking fast. Once again, his cloak had saved him. He began scurrying up the side of the keep.
“Who are you?” Havok hissed into the face of the derro. “What are you?” When she refused to answer, he slammed her to the ground, then backhanded her with one clawed fist as she struggled to rise. Again and again he struck her, but still she refused to fall, a bitter smile playing across her bloodied and bruised face. Just as he prepared to deal a killing blow, she vanished, fleeing the scene, just as he had done so many times himself. Suddenly, the wyvern shrieked, a blood-curdling sound, and it rose into the air, slashing at Havok as it passed. It struck again at Grim as the dwarf rounded the southwest spire, and then it swooped into a low, lazy circle, preparing to come around for a second pass. Havok gestured at it, once more drawing on the pit fiend’s innate powers. Abruptly, all of Zyrinth’s muscles froze, even his wings. Paralyzed in mid-air, he fell, hurtling to the ground one-hundred feet below.
‘Venk, help me!’ the wyvern called silently to his companion.
‘Relax,’ he heard her respond, ‘you are in no danger.’ Then, as Havok, Grim and Grubber watched, the wyvern simply vanished.
It was only a matter of time before the other League members brought down the three remaining overworms, and the cavern fell silent once more, save for the endless hissing of the Kyuss worms. At Faust’s suggestion, they regrouped on the eastern side of the fortress, between the southeast and eastern spires.
‘I suggest we make our entry point here,’ the élan spoke into their thoughts. ‘Call me superstitious, but I believe going through the front door after the entire fortress has been alerted is a singularly bad idea.’
‘I can’t argue your logic,’ Hawk answered. ‘What do you propose?’
Faust smiled. ‘Instant lock pick.’ With that, a familiar green beam lanced from his forehead and struck the stone wall before them. Instantly, a ten-by-ten cube of material simply vanished…but there was more beneath it. The disintegration ray had failed to penetrate to the interior. A split-second after the section of wall was destroyed, the stone began to knit itself back together, and a geyser of greenish particles erupted from the wound, covering Grubber, Mak and Havok, who were closest to the wall. In horror, they realized that the spray was composed of thousands of Kyuss worms, and undeterred by their various magical protections, the vermin were already burrowing into their skin. Frantically, Grubber fumbled a potion flask from his belt pouch and gulped it, breathing a sigh of relief as he felt the worms within him cease their movements. Mak quickly wove a powerful healing spell over himself, effectively destroying his own infestation. With the speed of thought, Havok’s fiendish form transformed to an angelic one…a green skinned, white-winged planetar. Calling on the angel’s divine power, he purged the tunneling horde from his body, and then just as quickly, resumed his previous incarnation.
‘Thou shalt not attempt to destroy the walls, lest ye be sprayed with worms forthwith,’ Faust muttered.
It seemed their options for entering the tabernacle were limited, and that was to either simply walk in the front door, or teleport inside. Both seemed equally dangerous, but ultimately, the latter was chosen. With Faust as their guide, the team appeared at a point just beyond the main gates. They found themselves in an immense hall, with a vaulted ceiling that rose to a height of nearly eighty feet. The floor was of highly polished stone. To the east, a flight of stairs led up to a passageway, while a single door, apparently comprised of writhing worms, sat in the west wall. Numerous alcoves lined the walls, each of which glowed with golden light and contained some sort of free-standing portal. A bank of stone pillars supported the vaulted ceiling in the east portion of the chamber, while to the west, the room was open. There, a fifteen-foot wide fountain of green liquid churned and sloshed. Standing on a pedestal in the center of the fountain was a ten-foot tall humanoid statue dressed in tattered robes. The figure’s hands and part of its face were visible…and appeared to be made of hundreds of worms.
The group had barely taken in these details, when six of the glowing portals suddenly flashed brighter, and from each of them stepped a creature, ten feet in height, that seemed to be some amalgam of worm, snake and humanoid. Around each of their necks hung the symbol of a skull with worms coming from its eye sockets…the symbol of Kyuss. They were avolakia, walking worms, and they served as the Wormgod’s priests.
“Hit them now!” Hawk shouted aloud, and his words jolted his companions into action. He, Mak, Grim and Grubber each rapidly closed the distance to the avolakia nearest to them. As Hawk struck his opponent, a surge of energy jolted through Quaero, stunning the monstrosity like an electric shock. Grubber and Grim both hacked at their own foes, but Mak’s blade sliced through several of the tentacles of the worm priest he had chosen. Black, bilious blood spurted like a fountain. Despite their wounds, the five coherent priests drew themselves up to their full height, and began to hum an inhuman chant. Suddenly, columns of green fire roared down from the high ceiling, engulfing Mak and Hawk at their periphery, but completely enveloping Grubber. When the flames cleared, the goliath stumbled to one knee, gasping. His skin was scorched and blistered, and smoke rolled off him like a fog bank.
Focusing his mind, Faust quickly strung an energy current of blue flame between the avolakia standing over the wounded Grubber, and the still addled priest that Hawk had struck. Both of them jittered as the power pulsed through them, and Hawk used the opportunity to plunge Quaero into where he thought his foe’s heart should be. The abomination crumpled into a wet mass on the floor. In rapid succession, Mak and Grim also dispatched their respective targets. At that point, Havok joined the fray, his fangs, claws, wings and tail quickly overwhelming the avolakia before him. Only two remained. Again they began their alien prayer, this time causing walls of stone to sprout from the floor, dividing the team in three. Mak found himself alone, facing one of the worm priests across the fountain of its god. Grubber, Grim and Faust were similarly isolated between the two walls, while Hawk and Havok squared off against the remaining avolakia. Almost casually, the warlock fiend reached out and ripped out the creature’s throat, or what passed for it.
“Nice try,” he chuckled, feeling the devil’s blood thirst pulling at him. On the opposite side of the wall, Faust placed a hand on Grubber and Grim, and shunted them to stand beside Mak. The goliath brothers and the dwarf advanced menacingly on the last avolakia. As they raised their weapons to strike, the priest hastily stepped into the alcove it had emerged from, disappearing into the glowing portal there.
“Not so fast,” Faust said, and he easily dispelled the magic of the doorway. Instantly, the avolakia reappeared, and just as quickly, it went down in a hail of steel.
___________________________________________________________
Havok stood pondering the ‘door’ before him, his chin resting on one clawed, red hand. The portal in question appeared to be nothing more than a solid sheet of living, writhing worms. There was no handle, no hinges, and no obvious means of opening it. Finally, he shrugged and simply hurled a ball of fire at it. It didn’t even leave a scorch mark, but it did provoke another nauseating blast of worms. Fortunately, the team had learned their lesson from their last attack on the keep’s architecture, and were all standing a respectable distance away. The worms evaporated into smoke as soon as they touched the floor.
“Anyone have any better ideas?” the warlock asked, turning to his companions.
“Why not just go past it?” Faust said. “It worked last time.”
“I don’t like the idea of traveling blindly,” Havok replied. “It’s only a matter of time before our luck runs out.”
“Yes, but until then, I think we have to rely on our old standbys,” the psion said. Slowly, the others gathered around him, and once more he willed them to appear just beyond the door of worms. It was then that their luck ran out.
This time, they found themselves in a narrow hallway, which turned a sharp corner onto an ascending stairway. Another worm door stood at the intersection. Havok was forced to squeeze his massive body into the cramped quarters, while Mak and Grim…were simply gone.
“Damn!” Faust cursed.
“What?” Hawk asked, alarmed. “Where are they?”
“They shunted,” Havok explained. “It’s what happens when you materialize inside a solid object, like a wall. The spell randomly spits you out somewhere else. Can you find them Faust?”
“If they’re on this plane I can,” the psion snapped, and then he called out through the Mind Link. ‘Are you ok? Can you tell where you are?’
The goliath and dwarf were a bit preoccupied to respond immediately. They had appeared in a small, bare chamber, its high ceiling reaching fifty feet overhead. They stood literally nose-to-nose with another, equally surprised, avolakia. Grim swung at the priest, but it quickly scuttled backwards, seeming to simply flow through another worm door, this one on the far side of the chamber.
‘We’re in a room,’ Grim said in disgust. ‘Nothin’ here, ‘cept another walking worm, but its gone now. Slipped through another of those wormy curtains. We got one in front of us, and one behind.’
‘Yeah, and I’m going through the one the worm priest just did,” Mak chimed in. ‘I’m going after him.’
‘No wait!’ Havok cried, but it was too late. Mak tried to pass through the door as the avolakia had done. He might as well have been trying to step through a stone wall, except that most stone walls didn’t leave your skin crawling with green worms. Fortunately, they did not immediately start burrowing into his flesh, and he managed to quickly brush them to the floor.
‘I have an idea,’ Grim said, and he touched a plain, silver ring on his left hand, speaking a guttural word as he did so. Instantly, his body began blinking in and out of Mak’s sight, there one second, gone the next. What the goliath did not know was that the dwarf was literally blinking into the ethereal plane and back. He waited for the right moment, and then tried stepping thru the wall beside the worm door. He came up against a solid barrier, which somehow extended into the ether where he was. Worse, when he reappeared on the prime, he felt the worms crawling beneath his skin once again. Quickly, he grasped a golden bead on the strand of prayer beads he wore at his belt. The magic of the charm purged the vermin, but he could still imagine that he felt them crawling through him.
‘No luck,’ he told the others.
‘Everyone, stay where you are,’ Havok said. ‘I’m going back to examine those priests we killed. Maybe they have some sort of key on them that allows them to pass through the doors.’ He then teleported himself back into the Temple of the Worm, where his search came up empty. Besides their holy symbols, the creatures had no obvious keys in their possession. It was then that his eyes went to the fountain. Maybe that was it. Perhaps some property of the liquid there would allow passage. Cautiously, he approached the basin, and slowly dipped one hand into it. Agony tore through his hand, and when he pulled it out, he saw his flesh slowly dissolving. In moments, he could see the sinew and bone beneath. In a flash, he shifted to the form of a planetar once again, and again used his angelic powers of healing. His skin reknitted itself, leaving not a trace of the wound, and the viscous, green slime turned to a dry crust, and flaked away.
The League found themselves at an impasse. Faust transported Hawk and Grubber back into the temple with Havok, and they were joined shortly by Grim and Mak, the dwarf having utilized an amulet he wore that allowed him limited teleportation. They were back where they had started from, at a loss for which way to proceed. The Tabernacle was undoubtedly on full alert, and somewhere within, Dragotha waited.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
