Story HourPost your ongoing tales from your campaigns, and read those from others for inspiration. Lots of other RPG boards post "Story Hours", but this is where it started!
Agamis ss’ressen plunged through the gate opening and Ilmarė’s volley was met with shrill cries. They were larger than the others, with rudimentary wings and a bright green color. Some of them, females, had blue scales.
Ilmarė notched another arrow as Shining Patrolmen fired past her with their rifles.
A wave of Agamis charged towards them, armed with large blades, whips, and clubs. Ilmarė pierced the ss’ressen with her arrows while Beldin smashed another with his axe. Vlad caught one in the stomach.
The Agamis reared back as one and spat sticky globs of sizzling acid. Vlad’s shield caught one blast, Beldin’s caught another. Kham easily dodged aside.
With a roar, Sebastian extended his fingers and blasted a ball of flames through the ss’ressen ranks. Then he ducked back behind Beldin.
Vlad beheaded an Agamis and black blood spewed forth.
A large blue Agamis swung its halberd at Kham. He ducked, and the monster struck a fellow ss’ressen, then another. Ilmarė fired two arrows into the blue ss’ressen, causing it to reel back with a cry.
Sebastian pointed at another ss’ressen and a magical bolt ripped through its skull.
An Agamis swung its whip in circles above its head. It swung at Ilmarė and she dodged it.
Rubbery dun-colored tentacles sprung up out of the ground between the ss’ressen and the citadel, leaving a slim path for the ss’ressen to pass through.
“Herd them towards the center!” shouted Sebastian.
Again, the whip-wielding ss’ressen swung and its whip snapped around Beldin’s shield. Ilmarė fired arrows into the thing as the whip caught fast. It collapsed.
A huge Agamis tore its way through the tentacles and brought its greatclub down at Kham. He jumped aside, easily dodging in and out of the tentacles like a clown fish in the protective arms of a sea anemone.
One ss’ressen grabbed for Sebastian. Vlad slashed the beast’s hand with Grungronazharr. It twisted, raising its greatclub and began to swing again when Beldin struck it from the side.
The ss’ressen roared and Kham fired both pistols up through its throat, skewering it through the brain.
The Agamis stumbled, its hand fumbling towards its mouth where the bullets had penetrated. It stared upward, shocked, and with a long, pained moan, it collapsed to the ground.
There was a moment of silence. All the ss’ressen were dead or fled.
Semar had been liberated, but at a terrible cost. The city and its people would never be the same. They had witnessed the brutality of the Ssethregoran horde firsthand.
Somehow, Kham had produced a wineskin. He took a long drink. He had seen things he would never be able to tell anyone without several bottles of strong drink.
Muatma addressed them all, holding one arm with the other, useless and bleeding. “Some of you have lost trusted companions and love ones. Some of you have witnessed great acts of bravery and terrible acts of cowardice.”
Kham thought of Quablo. Was he dead? Did it matter?
“We have all seen the best and worst of man and beast.”
He thought of Bijoux and Calactyte. Calactyte had been buried under the rubble. They were forced to abandon Bijoux in their flight to the citadel. She could fly, but could she escape the flying Ssethregoran troops? Would she even care to?
“We have been tested by battle and survived!”
The crowd gave a cheer. Muatma left to survey the battlefield.
All around them was the carnage of war. A child’s bloody rag doll lay silently next to a broken sword. An empty baby carriage sat idly on its side next to a destroyed temple. A tattered Shining Patrol banner wafted languidly in the breeze, keeping silent time with Ilmarė’s hauntingly beautiful lament for the dead.
“In gwidh ristennin,” Ilmarė sang of bonds cut.
Bodies of patrolmen and ss’ressen lay in long swaths where the battle was most fierce. Families had already begun to search the bodies for loved ones. In some places, they rejoiced. In others, children fell to their knees, sobbing and praying over their loss.
“I fae narchannen,” Ilmarė sang of the spirit broken.
One man scooped up his daughter, tears streaking his cheeks. They had been separated and only just found each other.
“I sell Altheria ed ardhon gwannen.” The children of Altheria had left the world.
“That lizard’s sacrifice saved my daughter. If it wasn’t for him…if it wasn’t for you…I don’t know…” He broke down, weeping with joy and relief.
“Nauris! Calactyte! Bijoux! Holden!”
“He gave his life to save human children he didn’t even know,” Beldin said in awe. “I am sure Yig will welcome him home.”
“Ú-reniathach i amar galen.” No more would they wander the bright world.
“To the big stupid lizard!” Kham raised his wineskin and took another gulp. “May he finally find the time to learn to read!” He handed the wineskin to Vlad.
“I reniad lín ne môr, nuithannen.” Their journeys had ended in darkness.
“To Cal!” Vlad took a swig. “May the Black Talon tribe follow his noble example!” He passed it to Beldin.
“To Cal!” Beldin drank deeply from it. “An axe was never wielded by a scalier dwarf at heart.” He offered it to Sebastian.
“To Cal!” Sebastian finished its contents. “May resilient spheres work better than I hoped.”
The crowd took up the chant, cheering and weeping and laughing. Exhausted survivors followed Kham’s example and spread the warmth and blissfulness of Larissa’s gift.
Kham took a moment to rest his weary body upon a broken piece of wall and wipe the grim and gore from his face.
Ahead, through the still-smoking haze of the battleground, a figure came rushing towards him. Kham got up on weary legs and drew one of his pistols, determined to send whatever it was to the pits of the nether realms. But it was only a boy, a runner used to relay messages from the Patrol’s commanders.
The runner stopped in front of him, his breath coming in ragged gasps. His dirt-covered face revealed a boy who had aged must in the past few days.
“Sir. The general wishes for you to come at once. A matter of great urgency has arisen and your help is required.”
Kham took a deep breath. “I don’t suppose I can say no?”
The boy handed him a note. “The general thought you might need some persuading. He asked me to hand you this note.”
Kham read it. A second later he dropped it to the ground and took off at a running, gathering his companions behind him.
This is a Year Two Living Arcanis adventure, “The Secret of Semar” by Henry Lopez, set in the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!
Our cast of characters includes:
• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter/dwarven defender) played by Joe Lalumia
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer
This adventure takes our heroes to a very different location all the way on the other side of Arcanis. It also has its share of revelations and deaths, and I can honestly say I was surprised how this adventure turned out.
Traveling to Nyambe provides a convenient means of bridging the quest for the King in Yellow with the events in Onara. I replaced the Agogwe with Tcho-Tchos, the ssanu with Ffashethh the samat, Semet with Emric the half-breed, and the final villain with…well, you’ll see.
More importantly, this story hour wraps up a major villain, a major ally, and the announcement of an important event in both the game and in real life. In case you’re wondering, yes, this is how I told my friends.
Kham was led to the central fortress, a large squat stone tower with smaller side buildings flanking it before they melded into the massive walls that surrounded the city. The boy moved unerringly through the winding streets towards the entrance. The walls of the buildings appeared pocked marked and scorched. Some very heavy fighting had taken place there.
Kham shouldered past a series of weary but agitated sentries with but a few words. It was not long before he was being led downward, deeper into the bowels of the citadel. The air became progressively cooler and damp the further he penetrated the foundations of the fortress.
“Don’t say it,” interrupted Kham. “I know what you’re going to say. Just don’t say it.”
Finally, the runner stopped before an immense door made of dark wood and bound by steel. A few moments later he banged on the door, it swung open easily. A reddish glow suffused the chamber within.
They had arrived at the bottommost chamber of the citadel. It was a huge room, over a hundred feet square. It was featureless, with the exception of a central platform ten feet high. Four sets of ramps led up to the top of the platform where an irregularly shaped stone ring stood. The eerie red glow came from the empty central portion of the ring, bathing everything within the chamber with its light.
“A Ssethregoran gate,” Ilmarė said quietly, despite Kham’s protests.
“I told you not to say it,” muttered Kham.
Inside the chamber were four members of the Shining Patrol. The stern-looking general Muatma Bunkakin was waiting for them.
“Thanks for coming so quickly. You are correct, this is a Ssethregoran Gate, similar in many ways to those created by the Ansharans to travel across many distances in the blink of an eye.”
The gate was similar in shape to the ones used throughout Onara to travel vast distance instantly. It lacked the usual white marble façade and its inscriptions of benediction and supplication to Anshar. Instead, it was a crude gray stone oval with blasphemous inscriptions that wriggled as if alive.
“You knew about this gate?” asked Vlad.
Muatma nodded. “This gate was discovered many years ago when my ancestors first drove out the Ssethregorans from Semar. Fearing that the snakes could use it to mount a sneak attack on the city, we tried to destroy it. Unfortunately, it has proven resilient to all attacks.”
Kham sighed. “Just like the one underneath the Temple of Althares in Freeport.”
“Luckily, the counterattack never came and the chamber was sealed and forgotten.”
“Until now,” Beldin finished for him.
“Until now. During the final moments of the battle, a group of ss’ressen led by a huge serpent managed to make their way here and activate the gateway. Before they could make their way through, three of my men sounded the alarm and engaged them.”
“And?” asked Vlad.
“And they were torn to pieces. One of them managed to stay alive long enough to tell us what occurred. Since then, I have assigned these men to guard the gateway, allowing no one in or out of the chamber.”
“So what do you want us to do?” asked Kham. He was tiring of the circuitous talk.
“As you know, the Shining Patrol has taken a heavy toll. I’m beginning to suspect that the entire attack was centered on entering this portal. I cannot spare any members of the Patrol until Semar is secured and the last remnants of the snakes are wiped clean from the streets.”
Ilmarė sneered. “You want us to go through that thing?”
“Yes. Terminate the snakes that have gone through before they can spread their terror further, or worse yet, bring back reinforcements to retake Semar.”
“Do you even know where the gateway leads?” asked Sebastian.
“No. I guess it shouldn’t be immediately lethal since the Ssethregorans went through without any obvious protection.”
Kham rubbed his forehead. “Well that makes me feel better. You guys have that blastpowder I gave you, right?”
Vlad and Beldin nodded. The elorii and dark-kin were not about to do him any favors.
“Good, count it one more time. If it’s more than twenty vials, dump it or we’ll be paste on the other side.”
Ilmarė jutted her chin out at Kham. “You know this is all your fault, don’t you?”
Kham looked nervously over at the general. “Maybe now’s not the time to talk about this.”
Muatma looked from Kham to Ilmarė. “What is she talking about?”
The elorii put her hands on her hips. “If Kham hadn’t awakened the snake-mummy that Edward was trying to sell in Freeport, we wouldn’t have this problem. In fact, it’s because of Ffasheth that we ended up—”
She didn’t get anything else out as Kham shoved Ilmarė through the portal. After one last count of his blast powder, he followed after her.
Secret of Semar: Part 1 – The First Secret of Semar
The usual tingling, slightly euphoric feeling of passing through one gate and exiting through another thousands of miles away was missing. In its place was pain like Kham had never experienced before. Hundreds of red-hot needles pierced his body for what seemed like an eternity until, as suddenly as it began, it was over. He lay face down, nauseated, on a pitted rocky floor.
Ilmarė, pale and unconscious, lay on the floor beside him. Beldin, Vlad, and Sebastian stumbled in a second later.
Sebastian dropped to the ground and retched.
“Are you okay?” asked Beldin. The dwarf seemed hardly affected.
“I…don’t feel…right…” said Sebastian.
The stench of burning flesh and the moaning of the wounded filled the air.
“Ahh!” shouted Kham. “Cut that out!”
A small group of dark-skinned children poked Kham with short spears. They stared at the strange quartet in wild-eyed fear and were dressed solely in thick leather sandals.
All about them were the wounded, dead, and dying. Huts burned and some bodies were impaled on long spears, stuck in the ground so that the bodies were held aloft.
Sebastian struggled to rise. With a roar, he arched up in agony, stretching his bat-like wings out to their full length of nearly ten feet. They were covered in scales.
The children ran screaming.
“Althares!” Kham took a step back from Sebastian. “Your wings are…bigger.”
The dark-kin’s breath came in long, ragged gasps. He looked around. “I think it was…the gate…”
Vlad glanced over his shoulder at his back. “Nope, just you.”
Beldin rushed past them.
“Where is he going?” asked Kham.
“Didn’t you hear them?” Beldin shouted back. “Children are in trouble!”
Beldin followed the sounds of screaming and yelling coming from a pair of children and a young woman in front of a flame-wrapped hut. As he approached, the woman rushed into the burning hut and did not reemerge.
“I think she’s passed out inside!” shouted Beldin. A bitter, acrid-smelling smoke spewed from the hut.
Beldin put his shield just below his eyes and charged through the flames.
Seconds past. The dwarf didn’t come back out.
Vlad looked at Kham.
“Don’t look at me.” Kham had Ilmarė in his arms. “I’m worried they’ll eat her or something.”
“I’ve got it.” Vlad held Grungronazharr before him as he stepped into the burning hut. The flames parted.
Beldin carried the unconscious woman over his shoulder, but he was trying to find a path out. He dragged a chest with his free hand.
“She was trying to drag this chest out!” It was too awkward for Beldin to do both at the same time without getting burned.
“This way!” Vlad waved his sword into the wall of flames and a path opened. Beldin leaped through the flames with the woman in his arms.
Vlad grabbed the chest and dragged it out through the flames.
Sebastian’s wings were folded, but he still looked a hellish beast. He tipped a healing potion to the woman’s lips. Her eyes fluttered, then widened as she took in the dark-kin’s demonic form.
When she caught sight of Vlad dragging out the chest, she shouted something. The woman opened the chest and took out its contents. Within was a skull, still intact. She kissed the skull and reverently replaced it in the chest.
Beldin nodded appreciatively. “They worship their ancestors as dwarves do.”
“Let’s hope she’s willing to put in a good word for us,” said Kham.
Vlad was busy trying to put out the flames. “With who?”
“With them.”
Kham jabbed a thumb in the direction of forty angry warriors armed with short spears.
Before they could do much more than assess each other, a small man with a long wiry beard pushed his way through the crowd. He was dark-skinned, like the others, and wore only a white linen skirt. He looked at Sebastian in surprise and spoke in a rapid-fire language they did not understand.
After a moment the old man took out a small rattle and intoned in a guttural language.
“He’s casting a spell.” Sebastian kept his arms crossed, although his wings flexed in agitation.
Vlad’s hand went to his sword.
“It’s fine,” said Sebastian. “Everyone stay calm.”
“My name is Atum,” said the old man, “and hopefully you can understand me now.”
Sebastian nodded. “I can. I am called Sebastian Arnyal. This is Vlad Martell, Beldin Soulforge, and Kham val’Abebi. Our unconscious friend is Ilmarė Galen.”
Atum’s brow knitted with concern. “Did you come from the stone ring?” One long, crooked finger pointed at an arching stone structure where they had appeared.
“Yes. We are in pursuit of lizard people who came through here.”
Atum nodded. “Ah yes. There was a snake man who was a powerful sorcerer. He caused the huts to erupt into flames with just a wave of his hand.”
“Ffashethh,” growled Kham. “Damn it.”
“Do you know where they went?” asked Vlad.
“They went north, after they gutted poor Olabisi.”
“And where are we?” asked Beldin.
“We are the Hutili. I saw the coming of the serpent men in a dream, and gathered the Hutili hunters as quickly as I could. In the dream, an orisha told me of the coming of an ancient evil and that a great danger would come to Nyambe-Tanda today at this place.”
“Orisha?” asked Sebastian.
Atum chuckled. “An orisha does not know what orisha are? They are powerful spirits that act as intermediaries with the Overpower. There are many different kinds of Orishas. They can be helpful,” he looked at Beldin, “wicked,” he looked back at Sebastian, “or neither.”
“The Overpower?” Beldin stroked his beard. “That’s your name for Illiir?”
“The Overpower is the creator of all. He created us, the land, the sky…even you.” He pointed at Kham.
“We need a means of tracking the serpent men,” said Sebastian. “We will avenge your people.”
“We can only spare one of our number.” Atum called over his shoulder. “Mashudu!”
A tall, lithely built young man came forward.
“Mashudu will lead you to vengeance. In the mean time, we must attend to the safety of our families. And yours. We will take care of your friend.”
Vlad looked dubiously at Atum. “I don’t know about leaving her here with them.”
“Well I can’t carry her all day.” Kham gently lowered Ilmarė to the ground. “She’s getting heavy.”
“Stay until morning,” said Atum. “The gift of tongues will soon vanish, and you will need a way to communicate with Mashudu. I can help.”
Sebastian stepped back to confer with his companions. “I don’t see that we really have a choice.”
“I’m going to have to change out of this armor.” Beldin was sweating profusely from his brush with the fire, but Nyambe-Tamba was infernally hot to begin with.
“We’ll stay until morning.” Kham looked around. “You got anything to drink around here?”
Kham drank from a gourd. It wasn’t Savonan Red, but it would do.
Atum chanted in front of a small fire. Shadows danced across his features. He had been chanting all night, slowly crafting a strange doll-like object made of wood. Between each chant he would insert a metal bit into it.
“I know of you.” Atum addressed Kham without looking up from his task. “You are of the Abebi tribe. The Orisha tell me that your people left Nyambe-Tanda after the Leaving Time.”
Kham blinked. “Are you saying my ancestors came from this land?”
“Yes. The orisha tell me the Abebi tribe tried to take the knowledge of the Kosan to rule over the rest of Nyambe-Tanda. Of all the humans on Nyambe-Tanda, only your tribe bent nature and the gifts of the Overpower to your will, rather than living in harmony with the land.”
Kham took another swig. “That sounds about right.”
“The Abebi tribe was warred upon by the other tribes that did not wish to see another reign of terror like that of the Kosan Empire. They were driven away by all until a powerful orisha came and took them to his home.”
“Althares,” said Kham.
After another minute of chanting, Atum paused. “Your ancestors were an evil people.”
“Not all of them.” He thought of Pallas and Corinalous. “But we haven’t been using the gifts of the…Overpower…as wisely as we should.”
Atum handed him the doll. “This is a Nkisi n’kondi. It is a representation of an ancestor orisha that will help you speak with the people of Nyambe. By pushing in one of the metal bits, whoever holds the Nkisi will be able to speak with those of Nyambe-Tanda. Use it wisely.”
Kham took the doll and slowly rose to his feet. “Thanks.”
“I hope you have learned your lessons during your time away, Child of Abebi.”
Kham flexed his arm. There were still scars from when he had awakened Ffashethh by accidentally touching the samat’s mummified corpse. “Me? I never learn my lesson.”
Sebastian landed on the ground with a whoosh of his wings. They were reptilian in appearance, scaly and black, with a thin membrane spanning each talon. Dust whirled around him.
Vlad eyed Sebastian. “That’s going to take some getting used to.”
“You and me both.” Sebastian folded his wings. “I spotted a plume of smoke just a few hundred yards away from here.”
“The tracks do not lead in that direction,” said Mashudu. “They continue northward. But there is a Hutili village that way. They help our tribe in mining precious metals and gems.”
Beldin grunted. “Sounds like they need our help.”
Kham let out an exasperated sigh. “Do we have to save everybody around here?”
The route to the smoke plume was rather treacherous, as it required negotiating the side of one of the mountains of the range. The slop was covered in spiny brush and loose gravel of the same sharp volcanic stones found in the first village.
Sebastian launched himself upwards. He spun to face them, wings churning the air. “I’ll take a closer look.”
As they closed, the smell of burning wood became sharper. Harsh words in another language were barked out.
The dark-kin landed behind them. “It’s a small village, no more than a dozen huts all arranged near a mine entrance. They’ve set the huts on fire. There are dead everywhere, but the survivors have been tied together by a series of ropes to a pole in the center.”
“Who’s holding them captive?” asked Vlad.
“A small group of women wielding wicked-looking swords.”
Kham stroked his chin. “Women, you say?”
“Amazons,” said Mashudu. “Warriors of the Nibomay Empire. They claim the inhabitants and land of the Giko Taaba Mountains as their own. When a village does not comply with their rules, they are…pacified.”
“So this is punishment for not paying fealty,” said Sebastian. “My own people have experienced this kind of pacification. Let’s end this nonsense.” He took off into the air again.
Kham drew two pistols. “He’s going to do that all the time now, isn’t he?”
Beldin gripped his axe. “Pretty much. Do we have a plan?”
Sebastian didn’t waste any time. Flames rained down on the Amazons before they had a chance to react.
Kham swigged a potion and promptly turned invisible.
“This should be easy,” said Vlad. “With their primitive weapons—“
An arrow the length of the Milandisian’s arm ricocheted off of his shield.
One of the Amazons wielded a huge bow. It was easily as large as the woman herself, and she was tall to begin with.
Beldin charged forward. “You were saying?”
Another Amazon raised a massive blade with one hand and swung it in a wide arc. Beldin tumbled sideways, but strands of his beard floated to the ground.
Two pistol blasts caused Kham to reappear and gain the attention of the Amazons. “Hey, ladies!” It was unclear if he was talking to his pistols or the women.
One of the Amazon women strode towards him. Kham ducked as she sliced upwards, hacking the pole that held the captives hostage in half.
“Thanks!” Kham hopped backwards as another stroke cut the folds of his jacket.
Vlad took a step back as the Amazon pressed her advantage. Her sword had a longer reach than his, and they both were wielding shields. Beldin was equally matched.
Sebastian engaged in a strafing battle with the Amazon shaman. Brilliant energy of blue and red danced back and forth between them.
Vlad and Beldin met back to back.
“Tougher than they look.” Beldin blocked another blow from a razor sword.
Vlad took a clumsy swing at an Amazon’s blade, just to get it away from his face. “You noticed that too?”
“Skiz!” Kham twisted sideways as another huge arrow whistled past him. “Reload!”
“You realize we’re gonna run out of bullets eventually, right boss?”
The Amazon dropped her bow and pounded towards him, razor sword held high.
“I’m not going to have this conversation right now! RELOAD!”
Tiny rat paws pushed a pair of pistols out of Kham’s haversack.
Kham grabbed the pistols and fell backwards, firing both of them into the Amazon’s face. She fell backwards in a spray of smoke and blood.
“Switch?” asked Vlad.
“Switch,” decided Beldin.
They spun and faced their new opponents. Vlad, taller than Beldin, went high. The dwarf, with his shorter center of gravity, went low. The two Amazons were unprepared for the attack.
A smoking crater was all that was left of the Amazon shaman. Sebastian landed and folded his wings.
“You are free!” he shouted with a smile.
The villagers screamed in terror at his approach.
Sebastian’s smile turned to a frown.
“Get used to that,” said Kham. “With those wings, I’m not sure we can take you anywhere.”
Marching in the sweltering heat for most of the day, they finally reached the end of the mountain range and moved into the grassland proper. At the end of the first day of tracking, Sebastian came across a scene illustrating the inherent dangers of Nyambe.
The dark-kin landed with a flap of his mighty wings. “There’s a pair of reptilian bodies laying in the empty expanse of the savannah.”
Kham walked over to the corpses.
“No, wait…” warned Mashudu.
“Ow!” Kham slapped at his neck. “Something bit me!”
Kham fell over, face first.
The shrill whistle of a projectile flying at high speed caused Sebastian to slap his own neck.
“What…?” Sebastian staggered to the ground.
“Tcho-tcho poison!” shouted Mashudu. “Beware!”
Beldin picked a long, thin blowgun needle out of his bulbous nose. “Try to poison a dwarf, will you?” He drew his axe. “I’ll teach you!”
Two short, bowl-cut, dark-skinned men hopped out of the grasses, wielding obsidian chip-studded terbutjes.
Mashudu blocked a swipe of the first tcho-tcho with his spear, but the terbutje snapped it in half.
“Don’t let them touch you!” shouted Mashudu. “Even their clubs are poisoned!”
Beldin roared as the second tcho-tcho’s club bounced off of his shield. “Let’s see you deal with dwarven steel!” He hacked back at the tcho-tcho, but the small man hopped out of the way.
Vlad swung his blade in a wide arc, holding the tcho-tcho at bay. With a wicked grin of filed teeth, the tcho-tcho slashed downwards with its terbutje.
“Missed!” snarled Vlad. He looked down. There was a slight gash at the tip of his boot.
“Ah damn it,” muttered Vlad. Then he too fell face down in the long grass. The tcho-tcho disappeared into the foliage.
Beldin smashed the first tcho-tcho’s terbutje aside and hacked its arm off with one blow. The tcho-tcho was still cursing in some foreign language when Beldin put it down.
The dwarf turned to address Mashudu just as the other tcho-tcho reared up out of the grass. “Look out!”
Before Mashudu could react, the tcho-tcho fell over. An arrow shaft protruded from the back of its skull.
Behind the corpse of the tcho-tcho stood a tall, handsome man with regal bearing in studded leather armor, wielding a large ivory bow.
“We’re not talking about the human Emric.” Kham described Emric’s original stature with his hands. “We’re talking about the little squeaky Emric that I rescued from the Temple of Yig awhile back. About this high?”
“That’s me.”
“The same Emric who was turned into a giant avatar of Yig and fought the King in Yellow to a standstill?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you die in the collapse of the cavern?”
Emric tilted his head. “It was a death of sorts, yes. Yig gave me one last chance to be reborn again, not as a tool of Her will but as my own person. I chose to combine the traits of both of my parents.” There was a hint of a smile on his lips.
Kham looked closer at Emric. Emric’s irises were clear. His pupils were shaped more like a slit than a dot. “About that…Calactyte’s dead.”
Emric’s shoulders sagged. “Somehow, I knew that. I am sure that Mother died valiantly.”
“She…I mean he did.” Kham shook it off. “This is too weird for me.” He walked away into the grasses to confer with Mashudu.
“So Emric, what are you doing here?” asked Sebastian, still a little woozy after being poisoned.
Emric sat down cross-legged. “Despite what you may believe, I am a loyal servant of the Ssethregoran Empire. Ffashethh started the attack in collusion with a human conspirator.”
“Quablo?” suggested Vlad.
“I don’t know. But I do know that I was considered the best hope to bring a stop to the fighting. Since I am a half-breed…” he looked at Sebastian with a grin, “I was hoping I could bring both sides together.”
“I find it’s not that simple.” Sebastian’s tail twitched in agitation.
“I didn’t think it would be. That is why I have been sent here, to assist you to stop Ffashethh. He belongs to a heretical group known as the Sskethvai.”
“We know all about it,” Beldin said gruffly. “They worship the Unspeakable One.”
Emric nodded. “Worship of the Unspeakable One has been proscribed within the Empire for centuries. That God is dead and gone. The Sskethvai sect controlled Semar after their purge from the Empire. There they enacted their obscene rites until the Altherians arrived and drove them out. Unfortunately, a handful of subjects, most notably the troglodytes, still follow the Unspeakable One’s edicts.”
“And that’s the mob Ffashethh led on the attack against Semar?” asked Vlad.
“I’m afraid so.” Emric sighed. “Ffashethh used the attack as cover to reach the Ssethregoran gate. He hopes to entreat this Unspeakable One to return to Onara and conquer all its people, Ssethreogran and human alike.”
“So you’re working with us?” Sebastian asked dubiously.
“My superiors do not want such a thing to happen any more than yours do.” He looked over at Kham, who was standing by himself in the grasslands. “Why is Father upset?”
“Kham’s the reason Ffashethh is alive today,” said Vlad.
Days had passed since their journey began. Wildlife and flora unseen and undreamed of stalked the grasslands. Beasts of normal and huge proportions made the crossing hazardous and nerve-wracking.
Finally, they reached the edge of the Bida Rainforest. A green wall of foliage heralded the beginning of the end of the trek.
The going was even more arduous than the crossing of the grasslands, as if the very jungle conspired to slow passage. Feet snagged on stumbled over every root, vine and limb. Insects of varying sizes harried like miniature crows pecking on rotting carriages.
Emric put a finger to his lips and then cupped one ear.
They heard the guttural sounds of someone speaking in Ssethren, the ancient language of the Ssethregoran Empire.
Emric pointed. The Ssethregorans were standing in a clearing. The entirety of the clearing was made up of a large rocky mound, looking much like a huge burial cairn.
In the center was Ffashethh. A huge Agamis clutch ss’ressen lowered him into a recently excavated opening by rope. The rest of the Ssethregorans were arranged in a circle around the opening, more intent on what was happening below than their own surroundings.
An explosion ripped through the air, blasting through the remaining Ssethregorans.
Beldin looked up as a bat-winged shadow crossed where he stood. “I guess Sebastian wasn’t interested in waiting.”
Emric released four arrows in rapid succession. The Agaims ss’ressen fell wordlessly into the pit.
“So much for the element of surprise.” Kham swigged a potion and jumped down into the pit.
GREAT story hour!! I've spent the last few weeks reading from the beginning. You've quite a group and Arcanis is an incredible setting. I wish I had been exposed earlier.
GrolloStoutFoam - Thank you for reading! We've got many chapters to go before this all wraps up, and the losses will keep rising...
The potion allowed Kham to climb down the sheer forty-foot drop that ended in a large cavern. The mustiness of ages wafted upward and the stench of things that even death had forgotten offended him in ways even the recent battle of Semar did not.
Sebastian flew in above Kham. Emric slid down the rope behind him.
The natural cavern was actually a large chamber, hewn from the living rock of the land. The walls were decorated with serpent motif bas-relief artwork and decorations. Further in the back, pillars designed to appear like large snakes glistened in the meager light afforded by the opening above.
A hulking Agamis ss’ressen pounded forward to meet them. Vlad and Beldin arrived a few seconds later.
Off to the south were a dozen organic-looking bags, lifted off the floor and interconnected to each other by mucous covered tubes that resembled intestines more than anything else. Arranged upon a low dais, surrounding a seatless throne crafted for the coils of a serpent, were a dozen of the same glyph-etched stone urns.
Behind Ffasheth was a stone relief of a bloated, jellyfish-like monstrosity that encompassed the entire cavern. Kham recognized it.
“Spawn of the Unspeakable One,” whispered Kham.
The two columns shuddered to life, their stone forms grinding across the floor as they advanced.
Beldin and Vlad charged towards the Agamis ss’ressen, even as the two animated statues slithered their way from either side.
“Sebastian!” Kham broke into a run. “You take out the weird-looking bags, I’ll keep snake boy busy!”
Ffashethh turned. “Ssso you pursssue me, even here? I will ssshow you the error of your waysss.”
Kham’s pupils adjusted to the dark. It wasn’t the darkness he was accustomed to. The darkness was literally a vacuum of light, so dark that staring with his eyes open almost hurt. If he couldn’t see, Kham would have closed his eyes.
But he COULD see. His mind tore through the possibilities as his body continued to move. Ffashethh was already pressing the advantage. Emric seemed completely unhindered. Vlad held his own, taking slow, methodical swings to defend himself. Beldin flailed, swinging blindly in front of him. From the looks of how the Agamis was reacting, it wasn’t much better off.
The animated statues, however, were not so encumbered.
It was Daemonscar! The breastplate Kham picked up in Canceri gave Kham the ability to see in magical darkness, like a dark-kin…
Kham looked up. Sebastian, unhindered by the magical darkness, flapped like a giant bat, unleashing a blast of flames that somehow didn’t manage to illuminate anything despite the conflagration. It was all heat, no light. The fireball looked like a smudge with gradations of black and white.
The blast struck the bags, tearing them open. A torrent of stagnant liquid rushed out. A naked, dark-skinned human spilled to a halt in front of Kham.
Kahm hesitated. The smell of ammonia nearly overwhelmed him. But it wasn’t the stench that stopped him.
He stared down in horror. “Althares!”
The corpse’s eyes were wide open. Even in the pitch darkness, Kham could make the man’s features out as a val’Abebi. But the pupils were serpent slits.
Ffashethh pointed. Tree roots exploded out of the ground, encircling Vlad, Beldin, and the Agamis’ legs even as the two stone constructs slithered closer. It was apparent Ffashethh had no use for his minions.
“Kham, the snakes!” Sebastian pointed and shouted another word of power, but Kham was stunned by what he had found. Was Emric truly the first of his kind? Did Yig really give him a choice? Or was he a pawn of Ffashethh all along, some kind of failed experiment that had turned against him? Or would he yet betray them?
One of the serpents exploded from a blast of magical force.
“That’sss enough out of you!” Ffashethh pointed at Sebastian and suddenly he went silent.
Emric fired two arrows into the other snake, but they bounced off its stony carapace.
The samat returned to his chant. Around him, the glyph-etched stone urns pulsed in a blasphemous rhythm.
Kham took careful aim with both of his pistols. “Ladies, don’t fail me now!”
The weapons jerked in his hands. The familiar sulfurous smell reached his nostrils, although the smoke was invisible in the darkness.
Ffashethh’s head snapped to face him as a crack appeared in one of the urns. He uncoiled from the throne, lurching to shelter the urn from further harm, but it was too late.
The urn was brilliantly illuminated from a thousand cracks where Kham’s shots struck home. The ensuing magical blast penetrated even the magical darkness.
“The urns!” shouted Kham. “Break the urns!”
Emric fired another volley of arrows. One of them skewered an urn and it cracked as it rolled, spinning rays of light in the darkness. Then it exploded.
Ffashethh roared with rage. The samat reached behind his back and drew two wicked-looking sickles. The handles were sculpted in snake bodies swallowing curved blades.
“That wasss my sssissster! I will make you pay for that.”
Kham fell backwards as the samat loomed over him. He drew another pair of pistols from his haversack. It was so fast—
His fingers went number as one pistol and then the other was batted aside. Ffashethh was playing with him.
The samat’s huge snake head darted forward to lick his chin with a forked tongue. “I’m going to make you sssuffer.”
“Not if he has anything to say about it.” Kham pointed over Ffashethh’s shoulder.
Sebastian came in a silent dive-bomb, but the samat forced him to veer off with a shrug of its thick tail.
Kham used the distraction to draw Talon and Coomb’s dagger, but the samat was watching him the whole time. The two sickles pierced his shoulders, pinning him to the stone. He screamed.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” sneered Ffashethh.
The samat let out a horrible hiss, spraying poisonous spittle over Kham’s face. The wicked fangs slowly unhinged, the jaw unlocking as it grew larger.
Suddenly the mouth snapped back as an explosion engulfed Ffashethh’s torso. The sickles were yanked out of Kham’s shoulders.
Sebastian had picked up one of the urns on his first pass and dropped it on top of the samat. They were using the samat’s own tools against him.
Emric rolled an urn towards Ffashethh. The samat seemed torn between trying to defend himself and protect the urns. The hesitation cost him as an arrow followed soon thereafter, smashing the top of the urn. The explosion blew one of Ffashethh’s arms clean off.
The samat flailed, his tail crashing through another urn and setting off another explosion.
“Skiz! Reload!”
“But—“
“NOW!”
Two more pistols nudged their way out of his haversack. It hurt, but Kham drew the two pistols and took careful aim. Urn after urn exploded, consuming Ffashethh. The darkness suddenly receded.
Sebastian landed near Kham, capable of speech once more. “His spells have ended—he’s dead.”
The Agamis was dead too. The remaining snake statue was rubble. Although Beldin and Vlad were hurt, they were alive.
Kham searched for Emric. He was staring down at one of the corpses.
“I don’t understand.” The half-breed’s lip quivered. “I thought I was unique…was it a lie?”
On closer inspection, there was a sac that had already been opened long before they arrived.
Sebastian studied the empty sac. “Kham did animate Ffashethh with his own flesh,” the dark-kin said with a frown. “It stands to reason Ffashethh could have used Kham’s life force to create these ss’ressen/val’Abebi hybrids.”
Kham struggled to his feet. “Look, it doesn’t matter if you’re really Emric or not. You stood by us when it counted. I don’t care how you came to be…hell, I was originally planning to eat the serpent egg I picked up. Sometimes, things work out differently than you planned.”
Kham clapped Emric on the shoulder and winced. The sickle wounds hurt, but he would live.
Emric’s brow was furrowed. “Thanks, Father. That means a lot coming from you.”
“And stop calling me Father.”
Vlad stared up at the far wall. “I don’t mean to interrupt the family reunion, but if Ffashethh is dead, why is that wall still glowing?”
The massive fresco of one of the Unspeakable One’s spawn glowed a sickly green color and slowly detached itself from the wall with a horrible sucking sound.
“Run!” shouted Emric.
Vlad drew a glowing gladius, the blade made of pure energy. “This weapon can take Carcosan beings down—“
Emric turned. “You can’t fight this! RUN!”
Kham was backpedaling. “But Emric, you can’t stop it either…”
Emric shook his head. “If it’s true, that I was manufactured by the Unspeakable One to betray you, then I won’t be able to fight this thing. And if I don’t have free will, I don’t want to live anyway.” He drew a thin longsword. “Sliver, don’t fail me now!”
Tentacles stretched and twisted towards Emric.
“Come on!” shouted Emric. He hacked at one of the tentacles. “Is that the best you’ve got?”
There was a grin on Emric’s face, wild with the confirmation of his new-found independence, however brief. Snapping like whips, the spawn’s tentacles pinned his arms to his body. Another tentacle strained for his face…
Kham didn’t look back. He hit the wall running and climbed straight up it. Sebastian flew up the length of the rope and tied it around his waist. “Hang on!”
Beldin tied a length of rope around his wrist as Sebastian lifted into the air.
Vlad hacked his way out of a forest of tendrils. He was quickly overmatched and he knew it.
“If that thing gets out this whole continent is doomed!” shouted Sebastian.
Beldin slowly lifted up. Kham jumped through the air and snatched the rope.
“We can’t let it get out of here,” said Kham desperately. Then he remembered the extra blastpowder. “Vlad, Beldin, throw the blast powder at it. Sebastian, when I say go, you hit it with everything you’ve got!”
Sebastian struggled. The power of his new wings was impressive, but it was all he could do to keep them aloft.
The mass that was once Emric sunk into the gelatinous form of the spawn. Kham concentrated, and suddenly he and Vlad switched places—Vlad was wrapped around the rope and Kham was in the forest of tentacles.
Thanks to Kham’s ring, the spawn couldn’t get a handle on him. He threw the powder horn and the feeling tentacles caught it, slurping it upwards into the body cavity.
Kham twisted and tumbled out of its path. He snatched the tail end of the rope. “Throw it!”
Beldin reached into his pouch and tossed a powder horn into the scintillating cap of the jelly-like spawn. Vlad did the same. The powder horns stuck to its flesh before slowly sinking beneath the surface.
Sebastian elevated them up so that they were level with the opening into the cavern.
Kham whistled the last powder horn over his head by its strap. Once, twice. The tentacles lunged for him.
On the third swing he let the powder horn fly. “NOW!”
Sebastian pointed both palms downwards into the hole, “INCENDIARES GLOBUS!”
A blast of flames whooshed past Kham’s nose into the hole.
One of the powder horns, attached to the surface of the spawn, exploded. The abomination jerked this way and that, a balloon caught in a typhoon. Its tentacles flailed, smashing a massive stalactite. The cavern shuddered.
“Fly faster!” Kham twined his legs around the rope.
Sebastian was drenched in sweat as he concentrated wholly on lifting three men up on a single rope. Tentacles probed out of the hole.
Then the explosion reached the other two powder horns stuck in the thing’s hide. Bright red mushrooms of energy exploded in the flesh of the spawn, bursting outwards a second later and spewing viscous fluid in great gouts everywhere. The entire cavern blasted upwards as the gas that propelled the beast caught fire.
Suddenly Sebastian’s load got lighter. Beldin, Vlad, and Kham sailed up past him as the rope went slack. The superheated air of the explosion tossed them like feathers.
Sebastian flapped his wings furiously. He caught sight of Beldin at the apex of the blast. Then all three hurdled back to earth as gravity took over.
The cavern was slowly imploding, rocks dropping away from where the spawn continued to flail in a spray of fire, rock, and unnatural fluid. It seemed as if would envelope the entire landscape.
Kham snapped downwards, his leg trapped in the rope. Beldin and Vlad weren’t so lucky. The force of gravity ripped the rope from their hands.
Kham hung upside down, arms outstretched. He was holding on to both of them by their hands, the world a churning mass below them.
“Hold on, Vlad! Hang on to me!”
“Don't let go!” shouted Beldin.
Kham strained. His grip was slipping.
“Hold on, Beldin! Hang on!”
Though they were further away from the lip of the rapidly expanding crater, they were slowly falling back into it. Sebastian’s wings were finally giving out.
“Come on! Get up!” Kham tried to tighten his grip but his shoulders were already numb from Ffasheth’s attack. “Pull up! Come on!”
“Kham!” shouted Vlad.
“I can’t…” There were tears in Kham’s eyes. “Guys…I can’t…I can’t hold on to both of you.”
“It’s okay,” the dwarf said calmly. “Find my body later.”
“No, Beldin, wait!” But the dwarf had already made his decision.
Beldin released Kham’s hand. He was distinguishable only by his flapping beard as he plummeted to certain death on the unstable ground below.
Kham caught a glimpse of Mashudu running towards Beldin’s body. He picked the corpse up and ran, the collapsing rock nipping at his heels.
Vlad looked down. “We’re still falling!” The earth had given way to bright red and yellow streaks, like bloody veins in the earth. Lava.
The spawn slowly sank beneath the crush of rock and earth, sputtering and hissing as it was forced downwards into the lava pool, until even the glittering green cap was no longer visible.
“I can’t fly anymore,” Sebastian’s body shuddered with every beat of his wings. The exertion and the Nyambe heat had taken its toll. They continued in a barely controlled descent.
“We’ll never survive the lava,” Kham said morosely. He could do nothing but hold on to Vlad.
“Wait!” Sebastian remembered Calactyte. He pulled a wand from his robes. “Let go of the rope.”
“What?” Kham looked up at him. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Trust me! Let go of the rope!”
Kham shrugged and released his leg from the rope. It twirled, unraveling him and suddenly they were free falling. Vlad and Kham tumbled through the air.
Sebastian aimed the wand. This time, he swore, he wouldn’t miss.
The wand of resilience sparked and a bubble of magical force enveloped them as they fell. It landed in the lava flow like a bit of foam on a calm surf. Vlad held Grungronazharr in both hands; though the force bubble would protect them, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Finally relieved of his burden, Sebastian was able to flap enough to keep himself afloat. He stretched, taking in great a lungful of air. Then his smile faded.
Down below, something stirred beneath the lava. Tentacles curled upwards, melting in the awesome heat but undeterred.
“No!” Sebastian went into a nosedive. “I will not let you take any more lives!”
Vlad and Kham looked up, helpless to do anything but watch as the spawn threatened to drag them down into the lava with it.
Sebastian lifted a palm. A glowing sphere of pale blue light appeared in it. “Frigus sphaera!”
Sebastian hurled the blue sphere straight at the crown of the spawn. His aim was true.
Still dripping with lava, the sphere passed through its flesh and burrowed to the center of its being. Cracks of ice appeared throughout its form. For a split-second the spawn shuddered as heat and cold struggled for dominance.
Then it exploded in a million pieces of frozen chunks, pelting Sebastian in the air, bouncing off the sphere of force, and even threatening Mashudu who stood protectively over Beldin’s smashed corpse.
“Your friend is remarkable,” said Atum. It had taken all of their healing potions to restore the crushed and battered body of Beldin to life before dawn. “The orisha within him is very strong. He will be reborn at daylight, as you said he would.”
Around the Hutili’s fire, Sebastian also slept. The struggle to keep them alive and his newfound flight had taken much out of him.
“That’s great, Atum. Any news on Ilmarė?” asked Kham.
“I will check on her.” Atum tottered off.
Kham and Vlad passed a gourd filled with a Nyambean concoction back and forth in front of the fire.
“Do you think he really was Emric?”
Kham sighed and took a swig. “I think that he thought he was. Who’s to say that he didn’t wake up to see Ffashethh standing over him and thought it was Yig?” He handed the gourd to Vlad.
Vlad nodded and slurped from the gourd. “Still, it didn’t work the way Ffashethh wanted it. Emric had free will.” He handed it back to Kham.
Kham gulped some more down. “The curse of being human.” He winked at Vlad.
“I just realized something.” Vlad hesitated in returning the gourd to Kham. “If it’s true that Ffashethh used your flesh to make his own val/ss’ressen half-breeds, that made Emric your son.”
Kham snatched the gourd back from Vlad. He didn’t say anything else. He just finished off the contents of the gourd.
Atum returned, ashen-faced. “I thought you should see these. We received it as a gift from the village you saved from the Amazons.”
He handed Vlad a small book and a battered, wooden box. The book had a black cover on which “diario” was spelled out in gold leaf. The box contained six bullets for an Altherian rifle.
“Four white men, like you, passed through here,” said Atum, anticipating Vlad’s question. “They headed to Isle of Chaugnar Faugn.”
Vlad punched an open palm with his fist. “Livius Carbo!”
“There’s more. Another ship came through; I believe they were in pursuit of this Livius you speak of. Only they were captured by cannibals, the tcho-tcho. They plan to sacrifice them to their orisha, Chaugnar Faugn, tomorrow.”
“Oooooh no.” Kham waved off Atum, swaying drunkenly. “We’re not staying here another day.” He pointed at Atum with the empty gourd. “As soon as Ilmarė is back on her feet we’re going through that portal and getting the hell out of here.”
“I do not think your new mother should be traveling through such portals,” said Atum matter-of-factly. “It may do irreparable harm to her baby. I suspect the strain is what weakened her the first time.”
“New mother?” Vlad blinked. “What are you talking about?”
Atum was taken aback. “Didn’t you know? Ilmarė is pregnant.”
Chapter 51: The Isle of Chaugnar Faugn - Introduction
This scenario is adapted from a Necromancer Games adventure, “The Isle of Bonjo Tombo” from the Dead Man’s Chest supplement, set in the Arcanis setting. You can read more about Arcanis at Onara Online. Please note: This adventure contains spoilers!
Our cast of characters includes:
• Dungeon Master: Michael Tresca (http://michael.tresca.net)
• Beldin Soulforge (dwarf fighter/dwarven defender) played by Joe Lalumia
• Kham Val’Abebi (val rogue/psychic warrior) played by Jeremy Ortiz (http://www.ninjarobotstudios.com)
• Sebastian Arnyal (dark-kin sorcerer) played by George Webster
• Vlad Martell (human fighter) played by Matt Hammer
George (Sebastian) was pretty sick during this session. Although he held up well for the first two adventures, by the third he was really suffering. And, as it turned out, we all got sick afterwards. Everyone, that is, except Matt who is impervious to all harm and my wife, who was juiced with pregnancy hormones and didn’t play most of the time anyway.
I had a much longer setup that involved the exploration of the island, but combat started to become tedious. Also, Sebastian’s newfound flight meant he was far more capable of avoiding overland hazards, as you’ll soon see. So, gaming by the seat of my pants as usual, I threw out a bunch of the stuff I had planned and went with the more cinematic solution. I also gutted the original cavern and instead moved to the next adventure, which takes place in Chaugnar Faugn’s cave.
All in all, it worked out well, but it was a lot briefer than I would have liked. I’m still itching to use all the wonderful things that lurked in the more expanded version of the cave. Oh well…there’ll always be other islands!
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