Into the Icy Darkness: The Great Demon War

[Emperor Valerian]

Part One of the Party's adventures on 2-20-04...

The Party Rides After Elenya, and Kelir Plays "Dretch Tag"

The party rode for the better part of two days, forced to finally stop only to rest their exhausted horses. All of them stretched and rubbed sore muscles as they dismounted a bit stiffly. Their tone was subdued and quiet as they removed their mounts bits and bridles and rubbed them down. Siabrey had spoken to no one since the incident a few nights passed. Even now, after she gave her horse a pat and sent it over to the other to feed, her face was drawn tight and a fire still smoldered in her eyes. But whether the fire was directed at Elenya’s kidnappers or herself, no one could be sure.

Kelir had watched his daughter as she rode, understanding more than perhaps even she realized. After leaving Stodiana, he too had felt the urge to end his existence from the pain of having to lose his love. What got me through was the realization that my love could survive in my heart, helping instead of hindering me. It seems that my daughter has come to much of the same conclusion. How strange that the strongest of us can be so weak when it comes to realizing and accepting love..

Lucius, for his part, looked with trepidation on Siabrey every time she drew near. After her initial affection towards him after Shaun lectured her, she had withdrawn and said no word to him about her attempted suicide or otherwise. She seemed wholly focused on her goal of saving Elenya, despite his attempts to get her to talk about what had happened. Tonight was no exception.

“Hey, Siabrey.” He asked, cautiously walking up to her.

“Yes, Lucius?” She looked at him, but her eyes were strangely turned inward.

“Um, I was wondering if tonight, maybe you’d like to…” he trailed off as her eyes already spoke negatives despite her not knowing what he was asking.

She shook her head. “No, we have only a few hours rest, we should use them the best we can; learning about our enemy.” At Lucius crestfallen look, her face softened slightly and she leaned forward to kiss his lips lightly. “Later,” she promised.

As he looked at her again he was shocked to see that her walls were temporarily down. His Siabrey was now staring back at him, sadness and disgust at herself plainly visible. Lucius wanted nothing more than to hold her, crush her body against his and kiss all of the pain and sorrow out of her. Part of her fear was due to him, he knew, and the fear of what would happen to him if their enemies got ahold of her. But he could not leave her now anymore than she could leave him. Their love bound them, strong and true, and despite all of her misgiving, Siabrey knew that she would stick by him, no matter what. All of that and more shone out of her soul at him, and Lucius relaxed slightly, knowing that she was still alive behind her shell, and would come out soon; just as soon as they saved Elenya he realized.

Siabrey stared at him a few minutes more, then nodded and blinked: her walls were back. Rolling one shoulder to try to ease the pains of riding, she headed over to where the rest of the party sat snatching a quick meal.

“Father, what can you tell us about the Temple?”

Kelir blinked as he tried to remember. “Let’s see, do you see those mountains off in the distance? The Temple of Hextor is cut into them. There is a main entrance that faces the desert, but my guess is that it will be well guarded.”

“By how many?” Tess asked, eyes clearly calculating the battle to come.

“The Temple can hold at least 300.” Kelir said, and the party sighed with frustration.

“Too many. Even for us.” Tess shook her head, her voice carrying a large measure of frustration. God, I wish we had an army by our side! her mind vigorously fumed.

“And they are likely to have all sorts of vile creatures in their stead.” Pellaron added, his own voice tinged with sad resignation, even as his eyes betrayed some kind of distant, powerful determination.

Kelir held up a long-fingered hand with a small smile. “There will be no need for you to fight your way in.”

“What do you mean?” Siabrey leaned forward eagerly. A secret way? A spell to draw off all of our opponents? What?

Kelir closed his eyes, imagining the Temple as he had seen it 600 years past. “There is a small natural tunnel that serves as a back entrance a few miles from the main entrance. I will do the same thing that I did last time…serve as a distraction while you eight sneak in the back and search for Elenya. I will keep trying to draw out troops as long as I can.”

Siabrey looked up alarmed at her father. “You can’t handle 300 troops and who knows what else on your own, father.” I’m losing Lucius slowly, We’ve lost Elenya, we lost Quin... Father, I don’t want to lose you too! There’s so much...

He smiled at her. “I will be alright; as long as I am in contact with the desert I will be fine.” Siabrey narrowed her eyes and mused over his statement for a while.

“Even so, I will not be alone. I shall call up my desert friends as I tried to do in the battle two days past.”

“Air elementals?” Tess asked. “That will be an amusing battle.” Her mind gave a momentary curse at the fact that she wouldn’t be there to see it. Perhaps I can gleam the details from Kelir later…it would make a wonderful song... though I still want to personally witness what Kelir and his friends will do to those bastards that hurt Quin and stole Elenya!

After laying out a few more battle plans, they decided to catch a few hours quick sleep. Since Kelir did not need to sleep, he offered to take watch for them all that night. Gratefully for the several more hours of sleep, they agreed.

Late that night, as Kelir flew round the camp, keen eyes penetrating the darkness, he suddenly spotted something moving atop a nearby ridge. Swiftly he began to wake up the others, and pointed to the movement. Clearly now, the party could see what looked like eight heads peeking over the ridge. A soft rustle echoed down to their ears, but none but Kelir could understand what was being said.

Head tilted, listening careful, Kelir whispered out if the side of his mouth to Siabrey, who stood nearest. “It appears that they are counting us…”

“Can you fly over and see what they are?” she whispered back, bow drawn and an arrow already fitted to the string. Beside her, the rest of the party had done the same. Kelir gave a small nod and shot up into the air. They say his dark shape zoom quickly behind the shapes. Whatever was hiding behind the ridge did not appear to notice him, as the whispering continued unaltered. Scarcely a minute later, Kelir flew back down and hovered near them.

“They are not human.” He whispered loud enough for them all to hear. “They are short flabby white creatures, rather pathetic looking.”

Tess sought to recall mention of creatures such as these in song, and a name slowly floated to the top of her mind. “I think those are ‘dretches’, a rather minor type of demon.” She whispered to the party. A fine point for me to start my vengeance against those who would harm us! her mind darkly smiled.

“So, they’re evil right.” Siabrey whispered, never taking her eyes off her target.

“Of course.”

“Good.” Siabrey let her arrow fly, and a moment later the rest of the party did the same. Four of the creatures were instantly cut down, as the remainder gave high pitched squeals and vanished over the ridge edge. Cursing, Siabrey and the others bagan to run around the ridge.

“Don’t let them get away!” she yelled up to Kelir. “They might be spies from the Temple!”

Kelir nodded and obidiently took the short cut of flying straight up and over the ridge. As the party rounded the edge of the cliff, they saw Kelir chasing them down, his speed on wing more than a match for their wobbly gait.

It almost seems like he’s playing tag with them….Shaun thought as Kelir chased down the four dretches and, reaching out, turned them into dust with a touch of his hand.

The crisis over, the party went back to sleep, waking up at dawn and riding most of the next day. As the sky in the west began to glow red with sunset, Kelir motioned them down from a full gallop into a steady walk.

“The main Temple entrance is only a few miles up. I will lead you around to the back entrance.” He whispered, and led them another hour’s ride to the west before heading north again, skirting the side of the mountain as they rode. It took Kelir another 15 minutes to remember where the secret entrance lay, ‘It was well hidden,’ the siabrie had said. Finally finding it, the party made camp a few hundred yards away in a small niche in the rocky side of the mountain that was barely big enough to hide their horses.

Siabrey was helping Tess wrap some dried fruit in oatcakes for dinner, when she noticed Lucius standing off to one side, staring at the mountain. Frowing slightly, she dusted off her hands and went over to him.

“Are you ok, Luke?” she asked. He turned to face her and she supressed a gasp at seeing his eyes glow a bright blue again. Oh no, it must be because we’re so near to a source of evil…

“I’m fine, Siabrey.” The brightness in his eyes faded a bit as he looked genuinly surprised to see her showing emotion again. “I’m just worried about tomorrow.”

“Hey, can I ask you what I was going to ask you last night?” he said after a moment.

“Sure, what is it, Luke?” She smiled softly and squeezed his shoulder. [I[Dammit, how can I make his eyes stop glowing like that… Please don’t go crazy on us, Luke! We need you... I need you...[/I]

“Is it alright if we spar for a little bit tonight so I can work on my swordplay?”

Clearly not the request she had been expecting, Siabrey gave a short laugh that surprised everyone, even herself. “Of course. Let me go get my katana.” He’s still thinking practically... which is good! Maybe the eyes are just a facade... maybe it doesn’t mean anything...

Stop lying to yourself Siabrey!

The spars were brief, and more instructional than their previous ones. Siabrey, feeling vaguely like Hidalas must have, coached Lucius in lifting his sword higher to protect his face and neck, and showed him how small movements of the wrists led to large movements at the tip of the sword.

“That way, you save yourself lots of energy by not moving around so much.” She pointed out. Lucius grunted as he tried to obey her instructions. The bastard sword was heavy though, and not meant for such articulate moves.

After a good half-hours work, they both sat down exhausted and eagerly accepted the dried oatcakes and fruit from Tess, who had been watching them carefully. After finishing her own dinner, she crossed her arms and looked at Lucius intensely.

“Lucius, I want you to promise that you won’t go into a rage tomorrow. There will be many things in that Temple that are probably going to make you angry, and the last thing we need is for you to flip out on us.” I’m in enough of a rage as it is now... Luke... you don’t know it, but I would prefer to kill every one of them in there. We won’t get far if both you and I are in such a state...

Siabrey glared at Tess for her stern words, but Lucius merely sighed and looked at his hands. “I don’t control it, you know Tess. It just happens. But…I promise to try.” He looked up at her. “That’s the best I can do.” Tess nodded.

Good enough... her mind sighed. I will try to keep my temper in line as well... I don’t know how well I will be able to though... they hurt Quin, Elenya, and poor Dingalas. I can forgive no man for that...

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Part Two of the 2-20-04 adventure:

Reflections Before Battle

Shaun meanwhile had gone off a short ways to eat dinner alone, and by the muffled sobs coming from that area, to cry over Elenya as well. After a bit he came back, eyes blurry and blood-shot, and asked Siabrey gruffly if he could talk to her.

Siabrey looked up at him, remembering how he had been the one to save her life, to make her realize that perhaps in fact her love for Lucius could be strong enough, and teach her that even a punk rogue like himself could fall in love.

She nodded and stood, giving Lucius a soft smile as she left in hoped of keeping his mind in the here and now instead of being lost to the darkness.

Shaun picked his way across the sand to where he had sat shortly before, and leaned against a tall rock heavily. Siabrey waiting, understanding the need to be silent until he spoke first.

“There was a dream I always used to have.” He began, his soft voice barely reaching her. “Of being locked in a small dark room, hearing jeering laughter coming from outside the doors.” He glanced at her, his eyes full of repressed pain. “When I was a kid, and my twin brother died, my father forced me to go to school in his stead, rather than waste all that money.”

Wait, you had a twin? Siabrey’s mind wanted to interrupt, but she repressed it and continued listening intently.

Shaun pushed away from the rock now and began to pace, anger stealing over his features. “It was a very strict school. When kids were bad, they would lock them in this tiny dark closet, and all the other kids would jeer at them.” He stopped pacing and closed his eyes. “I was locked in that room so many times…” he whispered.

“And that’s why you’re afraid of the dark?” Siabrey ventured gently.

His eyes opened and shifted in her direction, but he barely seemed to notice she was there. Giving a swift nod, he continued pacing.

“Lately, I’ve been having the same dream again, but this time it was different. It starts the same; I’m locked in this tiny dark room, laughter ringing all around, but now, all of a sudden, the laughter fades. Suddenly, the door opens, and Elenya’s standing there, smiling at me, and I’m no longer afraid.”

Shaun stopped pacing again. Tears glistened in his dark eyes as he smiled at Siabrey. “So you see, I have to get her back. She’s driven away the darkness when nothing else has, and I’m no longer afraid. I’m no longer afraid, Siabrey.” The golden-haired fighter walked up to him and wrapped her arms gently around him.

“It’s ok Shaun. We WILL get her back.” She stroked his back soothingly. Oddly enough, repeating the same words to him that she had several nights past brought back that same feeling of strength and vengeance. She felt it in Shaun too, and the pair was united once again under the stars.


Tess excused herself from the ring of men that sat discussing strategies for tomorrow and went to kneel upon her bedroll. With the stars and silent desert winds as her witness, she vowed vengeance upon the Black Rose Assassins, Rogar, Ilia, and the Countess. The night passed quickly as she contemplated dark, angry thoughts about what she’d do to all of them when she finally had Fa’rallan at their throats. To her fright, part of her mind reveled in the terrors that she would cause. She found herself split, twisted... one half wanted slow, gory deaths for those that had hurt her and those she loved, the other was her normal self, fighting hard to keep alive.

Tess, you are sinking into darkness, plotting these things! her normal mind, weakened by the losses over the past week called.

Those that hurt innocents must pay the price, no matter how bloody or vicious, the mind for vengeance said coolly, calmly... so much so that her normal mind was unnerved. Blood shall be spilt on the morrow... and the enemy’s should run as a river out of the temple...

Pellaron stopped by to see her once, asking what was wrong. She told him brusquely that she was merely thinking and preferred to be alone, forcing the paladin off with a harsh glance. Her normal mind reflected quietly that she knew he had taken a liking to her... and wished she was not as sharp in her talk to him, not for her sake but for his.

Pellaron, for his vicious blade and his dragon-killing.. is a soft heart. Even though I’m not attracted to him, I should be...

What? Weak to him? her vengeful mind snarled. He is a blade, nothing else... use him for vengeance!


Siabrey also came by to see her a short while later, clearly worried about her friend, but Tess gave her the cold shoulder as Lucius gently pulled the sad-looking Siabrey away. Tess went to sleep early but lay awake for a long time, tracing Quinn’s face in the stars above, and when she finally did fall asleep her dreams ran red with the blood of her enemies.


The sun rose the next morning fiery red as the eyes of a siabrie. The fighter with that name couldn’t help but wryly think that it symbolized the bloodshed to come. As she helped Lucius buckle on his armor and him help her in return, she spotted the three paladins smoothing the sand in a large area about 10 paces away.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked, rebraiding her hair more tightly as she walked over to them.

Pellaron stood and gestured over the area that he and his fellow paladins had cleared of all rocks and twigs. “We are preparing to conduct a service before battle.”

“Ahh, I see.” Siabrey nodded. She was familiar with Hierneous’ customs, being of his church, and quickly took up position in the cleared area next to Aris and Igbar, who nodded politely at her. Pellaron was about to start the service when the small sound of a throat being cleared stopped him. Turning, the paladin saw Grumki and Lucius standing behind him, the boy looking somewhat nervous.

“Grumki and I were thinking, and, well, neither of us has ever participated in a service to Hieroneous before.”

Pellaron smiled. “Say no more. You are welcome to join us.”

“Thank you. We asked Tess to join us but she, um.” Lucius glanced over to where Tess knelt on her bedroll still, eyebrows furrowed in anger, clearly nothing but vengeance on her mind again.

“She’d rather be alone.” Pellaron sighed and nodded. “I understand. You two will be honored guests of the service this morning.”

As they started to kneel down, they heard another set of footsteps behind them, and turned to see Shaun standing there, his face slightly red.

“Shaun? What are you...” Siabrey started to ask, before he interrupted her.

“I... I’m not normally religious, but... um... Elenya means more than life to me, and I’ll need strength and guidance today to find my love and bring her out safely. So I thought I might... um... join... you today?” he finished, his face clearly expecting a lecture from the paladins on how Hieroneous did not support reformed thieves.

Instead Pellaron’s face broke into a smile. “By all means, Shaun,” and he motioned for a position alongside the two paladins in front. He then e motioned the Grumki and Lucius to stand on the other side of Siabrey, who smiled at them softly before folding her hands and closing her eyes. The others did likewise.

Pellaron cleared his throat and raised his arms. “Oh mightly Hieroneous, we ask your blessing on this day. May your strength guide our blade and give haste to our feet as we seek a lost compatriot….”

On it went in a sweet singsong, Pellaron’s voice rising and falling in a mix of praise to the god and appeals for success in the battle to come. At the end, the paladins, Shaun and Siabrey drew their swords in salute. Grumki and Lucius were a bit slow in drawing theirs (Grumki drawing his warhammer instead), but managed the salute just as neatly.

Afterwards, the party smeared the sand around the area where they stood, hiding the evidence that people had recently camped there. Fully armored and armed to the teeth, the eight brave warriors strode up to the entrance that Kelir pointed out. As they drew nearer, they could see that a large boulder had been shoved in front of the opening, one that was too great for any of them, even Grumki, to move.

“Look!” Pellaron pointed to something carved in the stone. “It’s some kind of message…” He studied it for a moment. “It’s written in Infernal…but I cannot read it.”

“I can.” Kelir moved forward and stared at the engraving for several moments, his lips moving silently. “It’s a riddle of some sort.” He said at last, then began translating it outloud for his friends.

“I am written by the victors, I forget the vanquished, and men change me over time.”

“History.” Tess said simply, and the rock moved aside with silent grace.The others blinked and stared at Tess in surprise. She gave a shrug. “It’s part of an old bard song.”

“I didn’t learn that one…” Shaun muttered under his breath, gripping the hilt of his rapier tightly.

Kelir watched them all staring into the narrow corrider before nodding swiftly. “I go to make the distraction now. Give me…” he glanced at the sun. “Thirty of your minutes.”

“They’re not just our minutes, they’re everyone’s minutes, Kelir.” Siabrey smiled, trying to add a bit of humor to the fact that her heart was pounding with the thought that this might be the last time she saw her father. Everyone merely stared at her.

“Shh, it was a joke.” She muttered under her breath in a startling imitation of Shaun, who smiled slightly at her before his face grew grave again.

Kelir blinked at Siarbey, then held out a hand. “Farewell, my daughter.” Siabrey looked at his hand for a moment, then threw her arms around her father. “Farewell my father. Safe hunting to you.”

“And…to you.” Kelir felt the beat of his daughter’s heart and gazed once more into the eyes so like his own. Pulling back, he gave a brief nod to the other party members and took off into the sky.

Gripping their weapons tightly, a collective deep breath shuddered through the group as they stepped into dangers unknown.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Part Three of the 2-20-04 adventure...
Into the Dark Temple

“Its dark,” Grumki grunted in the lead as the darkness enveloped the party even more. The tunnel was surprisingly small, as Grumki felt as if he might not have enough room to swing his warhammer if need be. A tiny trickle echoed underfoot as a small rivulet carved the tunnel slowly.

Thank you, Captain Obvious, Siabrey grimaced inwardly, as her eyes strained to see ahead in the darkness. The party had been going for only fifteen minutes maybe, but it had seemed like hours. There was only enough space for a single file, and Grumki took up almost all of Siabrey’s vision...

Then the mountain of half-orc in front of her suddenly stopped, and she bumped right into him.

“What is it?” she hissed quietly.

“There’s something up there,” Grumki said quietly, his warhammer raising slowly and thankfully missing the ceiling by bare inches. “Its coming this way.”

Siabrey and the others craned around the half-orc’s massive frame, and managed to make out something in the dakrness ahead. Its form was indeterminate, and each time they caught a glimpse of it, it seemed to meld back into the shadows.

“What is that?” Tess asked quietly, to Grumki’s shrug.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it shall like Kord’s hammer!” the half orc snarled as his weapon lashed through the air...

... and seemed to fly straight through the creature.

The beast now reached out and grabbed Grumki’s shoulder, and Grumki felt his very essence, his very life, seemingly drain out of him a little. The half orc shuddered and backed away, as other party members squirmed by, and lashed out with their weapons as well.

”Its an allip!” Tess called from the back, “its the remnants of a spirit that went insane!”

“Very fitting for a temple of doom,” Shaun muttered as he notched an arrow, which ran straight and true into the creature. It reeled back, allowing just enough time for Grumki’s warhammer to actually find the beast. Its form dissipated into a thousand black embers.

“Whew... you alright Grumki?” Siabrey asked, watching the priest make some arcane movements over himself, and then relax slightly.

“I am now fine,” Grumki said slowly, quietly, “it attempted to steal my life essence... my memories and sense of spells. It failed.”

“The strength of Kord was strong, eh Grumki?” Shaun offered, to the smile of the half orc and the groans of the party at the quip.


It was another hour and a half of trekking before the party saw a light ahead of their position. AS the flickers of torches mounted along the walls ahead became apparent, the party slowed its movement to a crawl.

“Shaun, you’re quiet and fleet of foot... you go ahead,” Tess whispered, and Shaun nodded. Slipping forward with the grace of a cat and the silence of a wraith, he drew close to the source of the light. He found an unfinished room, its square, perfectly cut walls at hte far end melding into the rough uneven stone face that Shaun stood under. It smelled strongly of wine, as scents wafted from several large barrels and boxes stacked in the room.

“Its empty,” Shaun called back, using his voice to make sure the sounds only went down the tunnel and no where else. Even though this room was empty, there was a doorway on the far end, and he couldn’t tell who was there.

The party made their way into the room, and as some members snooped around the barrels, Tess slipped into the little hallway between the rooms. Siabrey meanwhile attempted to confirm the barrels contents were indeed wine. She knew some barrels had marks indicating their year... it would give an indication of how long the temple had been occupied (or unoccupied). She found none. Lucius, being mroe enterprising, took the butt of his sword and punched through the top of one barrel... and nearly retched when he saw its contents.

“Blood,” he murmered, stifling his gags, as the rest of the party recoiled in horror. The party cracked open several of the boxes, and was relieved that while they did contain dried meat, it looked to be nothing more than dried beef and bacon. Their curiosity more than satisfied, they then turned to follow Tess into the next room.

There were more bxoes stacked in here, along with numerous apparently dried fruits and vegetables. Most the party easily recognized, some the party did not (especially the fire red mushrooms on one high shelf). On the boxes the party found a crowbar, and a small bag of coins that seemed to have been carelessly dropped. Tess pried open one box with the crowbar, and found it contiained numerous dried apricots and oranges. While Siabrey refused to touch the fruit, Tess eagerly grabbed some, as no magic was apparent on them.

Tess led the party further into the Temple. As they left the room that clearly stored fruits, they heard a loud, deep bass voice humming a tune coming from a door on the left side of the hallway...

Red tides a ‘flowin’,
Down the Inerman main,
They say she’s a sown’
The paladin’s bane...

That sounds like Grumki!, Tess was the first to realize...

...just as a joint in Siabrey’s armor, which hadn’t been oiled since Obash, gave a rusty, loud creeaaakkk. The party froze, terror in their eyes.

“Hold ‘yer horses, there!” the voice called, “I’se be servin’ lunch no time soon! Git back to yer posts now!” The bass rumbled deep, and everyone knew for sure it was a half orc.

We can’t have someone telling them all we’re coming, now can we? Siabrey thought, looking at Tess. Maybe we can knock him out and get some information. By the woman’s eyes, Siabrey could tell she was thinking the same. With a nod, the party walked towards the room, now quiet, but not as quiet as they had been acknowledged. As they peered around the corner, they saw a relatively short half orc (he was only 5’7”) busily stirring a large pot of some kind.

“I know yer back dere,” he spoke as Siabrey snuck closer to him, “and like I said earlier, ye can’t have no st...augh!” he gurgled as the butt of her sword sent his head spinning into unconsciousness. Unfortunately, his fall caused the large spoon in his hand to clatter to the floor, and his falling frame knocked over several shelves of knives. The clattering crash echoed all up and down the hall.

“Oops,” Siabrey said quietly to stern scowls from Tess and Shaun. The scowls lasted only seconds, as more voices were heard from up the hall.

“Hey! Aun! You sound like your arrogant ass could use some help in there!” a booming half orc’s voice came from the room at the end of the hall. “We’ve got the last grain almost stored, then we’ll help ye!” The voices came closer, until two more half orcs peered up the hall at the party.

“Who are you?” the shorter one asked, his voice full of suspicion. The larger one looked at the party, and snarled.

“Yel, if they can git themselves some of dat wine, I wanna some too!” He stormed up the hall, shoved past the party, and headed for the wine cellar. The short orc growled at his compatriot, and then looked back at the party.

“Stealin’ wine, were ye? Well, can’t have dat! Whose your superiors, you’re gettin’ written up! This is still an army barracks, not a damn brothel with a buffet!” His massive arms went to his hips.

“Um... well... our friend here,” Tess pointed to Shaun, “heh... well, he needed some wine.”

Screw this! Siabrey’s mind thought as she walked up to the orc. The towering creature glared down at her in disdain...

...the last look his face would ever hold, as her katana sliced him from his gullet to his neck. She then delivered two backspins, cleanly slicing his body into three pieces.

Under his breath, Shaun muttered, “Showoff.”

“What the?” came from up the hall, but before the other orc could scream at his friend’s demise, three arrows from Shaun and Tess landed in his throat, causing him to fall with a gurgle. As Siabrey looked up from her kill, she saw Lucius walking quickly into the butchery where the first half orc lay unconscious.

“Luke, what is it?” she said, following him, though her face went pale when she saw his sword flash into the light.

“Luke! What are you doing!? No!” she shouted far too late as he cleanly decapitated the helpless orc. She ran up to him, and noticed his eyes...

...they glowed so blue they were nearly white.

The sword! We must find the sword! Siabrey’s mind jumped, even as she questioned Luke accusingly, “Why did you do that? We could have gotten information out of him!”

“He would have squealed,” Lucius casually said, wiping the blood off of his blade with the dead cook’s shirt. Siabrey looked on in shock, Tess with a completely blank look.

He was one of them, Tess’ mind said with certainty. He deserved what happened to him.[i/]

That’s not Luke... but he speaks normally... there was no battle rage... oh no... Siabrey’s mind started to panic.

As the party went into the “grain room” the half orcs discussed earlier, Siabrey noticed Lucius’ eyes glowing whiter and whiter. His voice was still normal, but sounded distant... as if it was him, but yet it wasn’t him.

He’s slipping Siabrey! You need to hold him here for a little bit! But how!?

What did Xanadu say was holding him from evil? Our love...

She rather suddenly reached up, and grabbed Lucius fiercely, planting a deep, hard kiss on his lips. He squirmed in surprise, and settled after only a minute, and then uneasily. When she broke it off, he looked at her, eyes still blazing.

“Hon, it might not be a good idea for us to break off in the middle of the Temple,” he gently suggested. She grabbed him fiercely again and planted another, longer kiss on him. No effect.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Tess snapped, annoyed as the rest of the party watched in confusion. “We’re about to take on an entire Temple of evil zealots and you only have your horniness! What is wrong with you!?”

Siabrey looked to Tess, and quickly darted over, explaining in hushed tones.

“Lucius is growing closer to evil... I was trying to bring him back with my love so we’d have time to find the sword,” Siabrey said quietly. Tess looked at Lucius, who was busy checking the hallway ahead for people, and then looked back at Siabrey.

She loves him so... For the briefest moment, Tess' anger faded slightly.

“Lets keep ourselves focused on the task at hand,” Tess said, the sternness slowly returning to her voice.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Part 4 of the 2-20 adventure...

An Unexpected Brawl

Siabrey nodded, as Tess walked over towards the entrance to the kitchen the party was clearly in. AS she approached, the doors crackled with electricity, and a blast of lightning barely missed her.

“What?!” she jumped out of the way. Her eyes then spotted the six small dark holes that ran lengthwise down the sides of hte doorway. Small, thin whisps of smoke rose from them.

“Tess, you alright?” Siabrey hissed quietly, and Tess nodded, her heart in her throat. That was a close one, Tesseron... you must be careful...

“If that thing is there,” Shaun thought aloud, “how the hell did the cooks get in here with nary a scratch on their bodies?”

“Magic?” Lucius volunteered, his eyes still glowing bright. Siabrey shivered at seeing his eyes again.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Tess said in an annoyed tone, “I think we should check the remains of the cooks... maybe they’ll hold the answer as to why they were able to get through... though why would someone set a lightning trap...”

“Keep greedy folks away from the food stores,” Shaun answered Tess’ question handily. “When I used to rob bakeries for food when I was younger, I had to watch out for these... of course those were far weaker...” Shaun continued on as Tess and Siabrey began the grisly task of searching the remains.

“Why... oh why did you have to cut this one apart?” Tess grumbled at Siabrey’s victim, trying to rifle the bloodied remains of a pocket. “Normally I can avoid nasties like this when neccessary... my hands feel abused,” she moaned as she pulled out a piece of metal, her hands and the object covered in still wet blood and bits of bone.

“Um, that’s magical,” Siabrey’s siabrie eyes saw quickly. She left the orc that Lucius had struck down and walked over. Taking a piece of cloth, she rubbed around the object, and discovered it had several small, strange runes, along with what appeared to be lightning shapes.

“Hmmm,” she thought as Tess, Shaun, and Luke crowded around to get a better look. She then looked at the doorway, and before anyone could stop her, darted through.

No lightning arced.

“Its a magical key!” she said, laughing before Lucius could grab her shoulders and give her a shake.

“What were you thinking?!” he said, pulling her close. “That could’ve hurt you....”

“Nah...” Siabrey said, hoping her bravado might spread some confidence in Luke, and cover up her own growing fears. “I’m fast, I could’ve dodged...”

Her bravado was cut short by noises coming from up the hallway to the party’s right... the noises of many many men running and shouting. To their left, they also caught faint sounds through the air, those these were different. Instead of the shouts and thundering of boots, tehy heard cries, and the distant song of steel hitting steel and hide.

“Back to the kitchen!” Tess called, and the party darted through the now deactivated trap, before Siabrey at last brought the metal strip back across it, reactivating it. The party clung close to the walls alongside the door, weapons drawn, planning for a surprise assault upon the massive warband they presumed was headed in their direction.

To their amazement, no one burst through the kitchen door or lobbed a fireball inside. Instead, a group fo at least 50 warriors came running past, weapon’s drawn, their leader screaming at them to hurry to “protect the altar!”

“What are they talking about?” Tess asked Grumki. He is a cleric, which qualifies him as a religious expert in my eyes.

“Who would be attacking their altar?” Pellaron said aloud as the last of the group dashed by. “The only other group attacking is...”

“Kelir?” Siabrey said fearfully. Why is father in the altar hall? They might do something horrid to him! He’s not in contact with the desert if he is inside the temple!
She turned forcefully towards Tess and the rest of the party. “We should go, now,” she said quietly.

“Elenya might be there!” Shaun whispered as well. I don’t know much about evil cults, but in most songs there is a virgin sacrifice on an altar required. Elenya’s no virgin, but in a pinch... He winced at where his mind went, and grabbing the metal key, he was leading the party up the hall, far enough behind the large warrior group as to remain unnoticed in their massive hurried dash.

As the party dashed ahead, they only had time to glance to the left and right, and saw that the rooms they passed appeared to be dormitories... they were simply made, plain, and Siabrey’s warrior eye caught holders for swords and flails along the walls that were curiously empty. As they passed on particular room, Siabrey and Tess caught in the corner of their eye the image of three warriors hurriedly putting on boots. Four quick arrows made sure they never got a chance to tie them.

As the party rounded the turns ahead, the noise from in front grew louder, eventually the noise of the warriors started to be drowned out by another, more bone-chilling noise. Human screams mingled with dreadful roars, loud snaps, clangs of weapons, and chants of magical power.

There’s a battle ahead, that’s for sure, Tess thought, readying her harpbow. Perhaps Kelir found Elenya and is trying to get her out... Tension hung in the air as the party came around another corner, and the noise grew deafening.

Up ahead, the last of the warband the party had seen was turning hard right into a room of some kind. Flashes eerily illuminated the faces of the last warriors as they ran in, their shadows colored in red, blue and green hues from unknown magic lights that blasted inside the room. A priest stood outside the doorway, chanting in an unknown tongue until the last warrior had entered.

Before the priest could move... nay, before he even saw the party, Siabrey had placed an arrow between his eyes, and Tess another arrow in his neck. As he fell gurgling to the ground, Tess, Luke and Shaun raced up to the entrance where the men had entered, and where the sounds of a massive battle were coming from.

Nothing could prepare them for the sight they saw...

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Of Demons, Devils, and a Young Woman the Party Has Been Searching For

The room ahead was tall, with banners and tapestries hanging from rafters nearly a full hundred feet overhead. It was from this cavernous room that the sounds of deafening battle originated.

The party saw from a short hall they appeared to lead to a balcony, with what looked to be the start of stairs on the left and right going down. Below, the party saw what had been making the noise, and Kelir was no where in sight.

Among the sprawled pews and holy ornaments of what was once a revered chamber, undoubtedly to Grazz’t, the party could see massive, enormous abominations of nature and evil thundering about, locked in vicious and bloody battle. They recognized the enormous winged figures of several balors, their massive swords shattering the skulls of their opponents. They also recognized the equally frightening forms of pit fiends, green, slimy poison dripping from their maws, leaping at the balors and locking them in vicious death struggles.

Vrocks circled overhead, diving down against barbazu devils, as imps and drecthes fought out bloody battles to the death. Among the chaos, human warriors dressed as the ones of Grazz’t that passed hte party by could be seen in the mix, most commonly in the form of bodies. Chanting was originated from both the left and the right... while the party could not understand what was being said, it was clearly apparent they were likely in two different languages. Neither side seemed to be at an advantage, the devils coming in disciplined waves, the demons charging pell-mell. The middle of the impromptu battlefield was already a synthetic hill of dead bodies that both sides had to fight up to reach the middle of the room.

No one in the party wanted to investigate the horror further, or even think of heading to the balcony lest they become accidentally dragged into the deadly war below. As they watched, A vrock’s broken form landed with a sickening crack on the balcony, the creature’s neck clearly broken, several enormous holes in its flanks from which green slime, likely pit fiend poison, oozed.

“W...w...what is that?” Tess asked Grumki as the party backed into the hallway, dodging a patch of floor that looked to be acid.

“I...I... think it was the Blood War,” Grumki said slowly, for the first time the party knew his voice filled with fear. “Hextor was a close ally of devils... and they may have grown annoyed once their blood enemies, the demons, occupied this great temple... I don’t know for sure, and I don’t care to find out. The strength of Kord does not require knowing such things,” he said, turning and noticing a door across the way.

“Um... lets... go there...” Shaun said, pointing at the other doorway. Too his surprise, Siabrey rushed ahead of him. Normally he might have teased the fighter about dashing away from a fight, but for now, he was thankful her normal combativeness was not to the level of lunacy.

“I’ll take the lead,” Siabrey said. Hopefully there’s nothing like that going on this way... she thought. My blade may be fast and sharp... but I doubt it would help against any of those monster’s fangs...

Out of her right eye as she thought Siabrey caught a momentarily glint of blue. Instinctively she rolled forward, and heard the loud snap and sizzle of electricity just behind her. The ends of her cloak had been singed, but otherwise she was unharmed.

“Um,” she started, looking at the party on the other side of the apparent trap, “Shaun, you might want to...”

“I’m on it,” he said, already leaning down and fidgeting with the floor. Rather quickly there was a pop that echeod through the air, and he said over the din coming from the other room, “It should be safe, I broke it!”

Gingerly the party stepped over the offending floorplate, and true enough, all were safe.

What is down this way that would warrant such a trap? Tess wondered to herself, before peering further down the passage, and seeing her own answer.

Lining the sides of the passage were openings in the solid rock, and covering each opening was a solid array of iron.

“The jail!” Shaun shouted, dashing down the hall, peering into each cell. Momentarily he was joined by Siabrey, Tess and the others, and frantic calls for “Elenya!” echoed through the empty stone corridors.

She has to be here somewhere! Shaun’s mind cried in a panicked voice. If she wasn’t here, with a sinking feeling, his heart could guess her grisly fate. They were after Siabrey, not her... if they had found out she wasn’t their intended quarry...

Oh God...

As they passed each cell, their hearts began to fall, as each cell was either completely devoid of life, and many had the remnants of skulls, bones, or decaying, fetid flesh in them.

As they passed a cell with a relatively freshly decomposing corpse, which gave the area an nauseating smell, part of Shaun’s mind quailed, Please, Hieroneous, Olidamarra, Tarantor, whoever... let that not be Elenya! Please! Siabrey and Tess drew alongside, and could tell what was going through Shaun’s mind. The body was clearly that of a woman, who looked to have been scalped and beaten horribly a day or two prior. Her head faced away from them, and she was devoid of any identifiable clothing.

“Shaun, I’m...” Siabrey started, tears flowing in her voice. At that moment, the party heard a soft mutter, a weak cry that had previously been drowned out by their shouts and calls.

“Shaun?” It came from further ahead... a woman’s voice, weak. “Shaun?” it called louder. Further ahead, the party noticed in the last cell down the hall a pair of white hands suddenly grip the cell bars. “Shaun!”

 

[Emperor Valerian]

A Rescue


Within seconds, Shaun had leaped the twenty foot distance seemingly in a single bound, his heart riding high in his throat.

Elenya! Elenya!

He drew nigh to the cell, and his heart cried out at the sight.

Indeed it was Elenya, gripping the cell bars so tightly that her knuckles were snow white. She was devoid of clothes from the waist up, and the edges of marks appeared to come from her sides and go onto her back. Several burns were on her front... most alarmingly an imprint of a human sized hand burned over her stomach, its angry red form seeming to glow against her now decidedly pale skin. Her eyes were red, seemingly filled with tiredness, tears.... and now hope.

“Shaun! Shauny Shauny!” she reached out from inside the cell and grabbed at him, trying to pull him close. She couldn’t get close enough to bestow a grateful kiss or even rub heads, but Shaun found the touch of her hands, while weak, to be reassuring... and filled with a strength he had not seen there.

She has been through much, he could tell, even if the physical markings of her ordeal had not been present. And I will flay alive every person that helped do this to my love!/i]

“Shauny! Shauny!” she called again, fresh tears arising from her frame, noticeably thinner. “You came! You came!”

“Yes, I’m here now. Everything’s going to be alright, everything’s going to be ok! Its going to be ok!” he said in the firmest voice his emotional mind could muster. I’ve found you again! I’ve found you!

The others by this point were clustering around as well, and Elenya’s eyes went wide in wonder at seeing the array of people drawn here. “You all came! You all came!” she said quietly, her mind in shock and relief.

Siabrey and Tess both immediately saw the handprint, and collectively one thing ran through their minds. The baby! What did they do to the baby! Oh god, poor Elenya!

“We’re here to get you out, hon!” Siabrey called, and began tugging on the iron bars. The didn’t even squeal. Grumki, Lucius, and Shaun added their weight to the effort, and after a few minutes of ear shattering screeching, the left section of the iron ripped loose from the rocks holding it, and the party managed to pull it wide enough that Elenya could slide out. Immediately she leapt into Shaun’s arms, both of them crying.

It was several minutes before the two pulled apart, and immediately Siabrey motioned to Elenya’s belly. The former barmaid sniffed, and cleared her throat. Her eyes changed a little, from relief, to determination.

“I was strong,” she said, her voice only cracking slightly now, ever growing in strength. “They tried to threaten me, and I would not tell them anything. But... I did speak...” her voice began to break quickly, her improvised wall of bravado being pummeled down by the memories of the horrors they inflicted.

“What did they do you?” Tess asked, already moving to try and heal what wounds she could. “How did they hurt you?”

“They... they...” Elenya looked down in fear and shame. “They did many bad things!” The first tear quickly formed in her eye and tumbled down her face. “They took me, the first night... they... had their way with me.” Siabrey’s eyes immediately flamed with unbridled hate, while Tess’ moved towards sadness. Alone among the party, the bard understood from her own past what it was like to be forced against one’s will. She laid a reassuring hand on Elenya’s shoulder as Shaun cradled her head.

“It’s going to be alright, you are strong,” both she and Shaun repeated as Elenya broke into fresh tears. “You are strong, Elenya,” Tess repeated. Much stronger than I was when it happened to me...

“No...” she gurbled, “I’m not strong... I broke... I talked... they threat...” she took a sniff as tears freely fell from her cheeks, “they threatened the baby!”

Tess and Siabrey looked at each other. This is NOT how Shaun should have found out! they both quailed. To their surprise, the statement did not even seem to register on the rogue’s face.

In fact, it did register. Elenya’s pregnant!? I... I must focus on her right now! She needs me! Those questions can wait until later! his mind decided firmly, and he merely held her head closer, quietly rocking her.

“Um...” Siabrey began to speak. She hated to interrupt the consolation of Elenya... the woman sorely needed a reassuring hug and a shoulder to cry on, but they were still in a Temple of Hextor, and they still needed that sword for Lucius. She glanced over at the young lord, and her mind stopped.

His bluish eyes were now blazing pure white, light enough that shadows danced along the walls from their illumination. His face was a mixture of sorrow, pity, and jsut beneath the surface, a seething, roiling rage at what had been done to his comrade and friend. His hands were rhythmically flexing and relaxing, and Siabrey was fairly sure that if a Hextorite or Gra’zztite had arrived at hte moment, they would meet an untimely, gory, and grisly end.

He is falling faster! Siabrey grew frightened. The evil around us... the evil he’s seen done to his friends... its all affecting him, drawing him closer! He’s going to break soon!

“We need to go! We need to go!” she started, her voice panicky. Shaun and Tess unfocused from Elenya long enough to become scared themselves, as Lucius’ visage continued to change, and grow further away from the young noble they loved into something far darker and more terrible.

Elenya sniffled, and raised her head. “We need to go,” she said quietly, looking at Lucius. “For his sake.”

With a nod, Shaun let her out of his embrace, and Siabrey gave her a cloak to cover her naked torso. Elenya accepted it with a shuddering hug, and then turned to follow the party down the hall, towards hopeful escape.

She truly is strong, Tess saw, her awe and admiration growing as Elenya began urging the others forward.

“I don’t know my way around the temple, but I think this way sounds better than the noises coming from behind us,” she said, her voice now strangely steady, even as the tears only started drying on her face. The party rounded a turn to the left, and Elenya suddenly stopped, her body shaking slightly.

To the left was a rather average sized room, darkly lit with three torches that gave off a sickly purplish light. In the room are several sickening instruments, some of which the party recognized to their dismay. One was clearly a rack, another looked to have a set of iron straighteners that could suspend a person spread eagle in the air, and other instruments abounded whose purposes looked too diabolical to imagine.

Handing from the ceiling were many manacles, some seeming to have acid or other vile fluids dripping from them. A table, originally wood but now with parts covered in a sick brown crust, straps clearly designed for arms and legs adorning its top, dominated the middle of the room, with etchings and gouges similar in size to the knife laying on the floor. Laying on the floor were several metal pokers, a knife with a fist on the pommel, its end covered in dried blood, and lastly, a torn shredded piece of ladies underwear, which Shaun sickeningly recognized as Elenya’s.

To everyone’s surprise, however, this was not what she recoiled from. Her backwards steps were away from a door directly to the party’s front, its interior hidden by a wooden door that was barely ajar. Tess, morbidly curious and worried that Elenya might not be recoiling from something in the room but more of a someone, started walking forward towards it gingerly, when the party noticed a shadow in the opposite doorway in the torture chamber...

 

[Emperor Valerian]

The Party Gains Some Vengeance

Arrows were already notched when the party sees what clearly was once a beautiful nymph walk through the doorway. Now a single blue horn came out of her forehead, her once alabaster skin now a sky blue, and her eyes, likely once a pleasant color, now glow a feral red. With a sinking stomach, Tess, Lucius, Siabrey and Shaun recognize her face as the nymph they saved near Mephys.

For Shaun and Lucius, the fact that it was the nymph they once helped was the last thing they saw of her. She wore nothing from her waist up, and invariably their eyes, along with Pellaron’s were drawn lower than her face, and her beauty shone brightly into their eyes... a brightness which faded into the inky black of blindness. Grumki, for his part, found nymphs and the like completely unattractive (he would later say they looked too thin and prone to breaking, unlike a nice half orc woman), and thus completely ignored her save for the fact she was a foe, and carried a wicked looking knife in her hand.
Tess and Siabrey loosed their arrows immediately, both striking the creature hard in the belly. Aris and Grumki did so as well, their shots hitting her in the shoulders. The creature noticeably reeled from the blows, writhing as her familiar voice cried out.

It was only then that Tess and Siabrey noticed Elenya trembling; not with fear, but unbridled rage. They had never seen the young woman angry, but now her normally smiling face was a dark storm of fury, as she almost mechanically extended a hand at the creature, and snarled, “The tables are now turned, bitch! I know your spell!”

To everyone’s surprise, there was a loud, thunderous crackle, and a loud rumble shook the room as a bolt of lightning leapt from her hands, sizzled through the air, and impacted the dark nymph full in the chest. Their foe’s body was wreathed in crackling electricity, and even after Elenya’s spell ended a mere second later, small arcs of shockin power still danced across the formerly natural form before them.

The creature was tottering near collapse, but turned to the party, and opened her mouth. A bright flash flickered in the depths of her throat, and to the shock of a party, she replied with a frightening blast of her own. The thunderous boom shook the very ceiling of the room, and Pellaron, Aristophle, and Grumki recoiled as a massive jolt of electricity shuddered through their bodies.

Tess now had to contend with her own rising fury, as the full knowledge of who this creature was and what it did to Elenya dawned on her. With a cry of fury and anger, a massive songstrike rose in her throat, and lashed at the creature, chipping away at her horn and sending several scales flying off of her shoulders.

For Siabrey too, the full knowledge of who this was began to dawn, and in a fury, she closed range, delivering a precise arrow to the throat from barely 30 feet away. The creature recoiled again, but her gurglings did not die, and she did not tumble. Instead she righted herself, and even looked prepared to begin work on another spell.

Shaun, meanwhile, was filled with a rage, both at this creature for blinding him, and for what it did to his beloved Elenya. Even though he was blind, he listened attentively for the nymph’s cries of pain, and deftly drew his bow. His arrow ran true... save its path took it far to the left of the nymph, causing it to nearly slice off Siabrey’s ear. The fighter quickly glanced back with a scowl, before focusing again a split second later on the target at hand.

It was Aristophle, who had quickly reloaded his crossbow, that then launched his bolts. Even as wisps of smoke wafted from his burnt cloak and electrified form, a bolt sped true, hitting the wobbling abomination in the forehead, causing the creature to tumble over with a thud.

Over the next few minutes, Pellaron, Shaun, and Lucius began regaining their sight, the world slowly fading back into view in monotone, then color. As they blinked hard, Elenya hugged Shaun, her rage leaving her body in shudder of relief and fear.

“That was my jailer...” Elenya began, her voice muffled by Shaun’s clothes. “She said she was a nymph of the forest, who joined Gra’zzt of her own free will! She tried to charm me into joining her... she tried to show me that it was the only way, and she hurt me whenever I refused... but hon,” she held Shaun close, “I was strong! I thought of you! I was strong!”

Oh Elenya! Shaun pulled her closer, only now beginning to differentiate her pale skin color from the red of Siabrey’s cloak that covered his love. “I love you hon. I knew you were strong, I knew you wouldn’t let them get to you!”

Siabrey turned to Lucius, looking at his eyes. They glowed, even brighter now, and she could see her shadow creeping along the floor as their brightness grew even more. They may not have have gotten to Elenya... but they are quickly getting to Lucius!


(DM’s Epilogue: The creature they faced, named Eriola, was indeed the nymph the party had helped earlier. As the party was just arriving in Irulas, her pond was overrun by the Countess’ armies marching northwards from burning Mephys, and she was captured. Subjected to tortures and mind control spells, she caved in, and her mind joined those of the dark. She fully enwrapped herself in the powers of Grazz’t, agreeing to have painful magical procedures done to her to bind to her elements of a blue dragon and elements of vile fiends.

In such a form, she was placed as one of several jailers in the newly settled Temple of Hextor, around the same time the party a week out of Irulas, and some three weeks before Elenya’s capture. Her first charge, a local village woman, died unfortunately under her “care,” and her carcass was left to rot in the jail. A few days later, riders arrived with a new toy... Elenya. She took wonderful care to properly haunt, harm, and maim the girl, yet keeping her alive and in enough health that information could be extracted.

The girl proved most hard to crack, and it was only when Eriola discovered she was pregnant and threatened the child did she finally reveal she was not the woman the Temple sought after, instead an associate of hers. She felt further information could be gained, and was returning with some equipment to assist in ‘questioning’ when she discovered a large group of unexpected guests in her torture chamber...)

 

[Emperor Valerian]

The Search for the Sword

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Siabrey gently but forcefully pulled Shaun and Elenya apart, “but we need to find the sword Ik Mataar before long.” She motioned with her head towards Lucius, and the faces of the rogue and newly minted wizard fell. Elenya was the first to nod firmly.

“I don’t know my way around here, but I can add what power I have to help,” she said. “I watched my jailer electrocute others... I watched and learned,” she wiggled her hands. Siabrey nodded absent mindedly. She’s trying to come to terms with whats happened, part of Siabrey’s mind recognized before she looked back at Lucius, his eyes still blazing white with some frightening, unseen power.

Hurry! she thought as the party burst from the torture room into another long hallway. From the left came more screeches and shouts from the huge battle they had passed earlier. More unnerving, noises came from the doorway directly in front of them.

Shaun peered carefully into the room, and saw what appeared to be stalls.... all the ones near the door looked to be empty. Ominously, what appeared to be a titanic metal collar hung from one wall... it was large enough it could have only been meant for a creature of truly titanic proportions, likely larger than Xanadu even. From one of the stalls on the end came an unnerving, high pitched chirp.

“Something is in there... its chirping,” Shaun called back to the group. “I guess they keep beasts here, though I don’t know what would require a neckcollar so large that it would fall off of even Xanadu...”

“I don’t want to find out,” Tess said quickly, pulling Shaun back. “Let’s focus on the sword... its clearly not in there.”

“We need to find the treasury,” Siabrye said, “or maybe the main armory. Its likely in one of those two places...”

“This way,” Elenya was already leaning, away from the noise of the demon/devil clash. “I don’t know what that is to the left, but I doubt we want to go find out.”

“You don’t. You really really don’t,” Siabrey nodded as the party set out. Heading at a dead run, a few seconds later they pass a room that seems to have weapons hanging along the walls. Darting in for a quick look, the party, with glee, realize they are in the armory...

... a sadly vacant armory, save two entirely non-magical swords and a regular piece of chain mail.

“Damn!” Tess kicked the wall, as Siabrey started to fidget in nervous worry. Let’s go! Let’s go! We have to save Lucius now!

As they started to re-enter the hallway, Tess (in the lead) had just enough time to see a face come around the corner ahead, followed by the shadows of more men. She tried to duck back into the armory quickly, but not fast enough.

“Hey! You! Stop!” echoed up the corridor, as the party fell flat against the armory wall. Tess prepared a songstrike, Lucius and Elenya prepared lightning bolts, as the rest notched arrows in preparation when the first would come into view.

“There’s seven of them, I think,” Tess said quietly, her spells ready in one hand, Fa’rallan in the other. The noises of running boots grew rapidly louder, as beads a sweat formed on Siabrey’s head.

We can’t afford to fight! she glanced nervously at Lucius, whose very face was growing deep etches into its visage, which was rapidly changing towards a deep scarlet. I don’t know how much longer he’ll last... especially if there is a fight to arouse his darker side!

Two clerics, clearly clad in the colors of the Countess, skidded to a halt in the doorway, but had little chance to speak as two lightning bolts, three songstrikes, and 6 arrows slashed their frames to shreds, molten, vibrating, pincushion like forms being all they left behind to testify to their existence.

Siabrey had taken time to activate her boots of speed, and dashed into the hallway with uncanny and feline speed. Her sword drawn, she took count of what she saw... a man and woman, both clad in the robes of a spellcaster, and three fighters clad in scale mail.

As she did this, the Gra’zzt sorcerer in the back drew into his fingers a small magical bead, which hurled into the small confines of the armory. Siabrey could only look in horror as flames jetted into the hallway from the perfect toss, though she was relieved to see everyone in the party still standing, albeit burnt or scorched.

Before she could recover, however, the other sorcerer was already holding her hand forth, and blue arcs of electricity flared out towards Siabrey. The fighter, blessed with inhuman grace and speed, managed to dodge the worst of the lightning strike, though nonetheless she felt a strong jolt rip through her shoulder, leaving scorched marks on her skin.

Seeing his friend Siabrey under attack from five people, Grumki lunges out of the room a split second after she did, and braving a slew of blows as he dashed by, the half orc made hard for the sorcerer that had shot Siabrey. With a shout of “Kord’s strength is your bane!” her slammed the sorceress in the gullet, and sickening cracks echoed through the corridor as three of her ribs broke.

As Shaun looks on in confusion and fury, Elenya began to shake again, fury rising within her. Her fingers extend to one of the fighteres that hit Grumki, and arcs of electricity leap out, catching the man full in the chest. He shuddered but did not fall as small blue arcs continued to dance across his body and armor.

Pellaron and Aris both charged out into the hallway as well, turning the confined space into a zone of mass chaos. Blades danced and sang as they clashed, the three warriors managing to keep everyone except Grumki from getting close to the sorcerers, who were clearly preparing yet another spell.

The physical bodies of the fighters could not stop the magic that ran in Lucius’ veins. His mounting fury and rage at what he had seen became unbridled just briefly, and he extended a hand towards the sorcerer that had launched a fireball into the middle of the group. With nary a movement on his part, Lucius caused the man’s throat to constrict and grow red as it was filled with blood. Shaking and gurgling in terror, the sorcerer collapsed to the ground, blood gurgling in a small stream from his mouth.

AS the fight continued, Siabrey’s blade found the jugular of one of the fighters to her front. However, the sorcerer being cornered by Grumki stepped back, and now free of his menacing warhammer, she extended a mauled hand... and a lightning bolt arced into Grumki’s skull. The massive half orc shuddered, and then fell over, life rapidly slipping from his form.

Aris pushed his way past the confused melee to Grumki’s side just seconds after the half orc’s fall, and laid hands upon the cleric’s massive skull, bringing Grumki back from the brink. Shaun dashed out to cover Aris, and carried his charge into the face of the sorceress as she tried desperately to prepare another spell. As he mouth started forming the first words of a spell, Shaun lunged forward with his rapier, its blade piercing into her throat. With a snap of his wrist, half of her throat was removed, and his wrists snapped back. The resulting fatal wound, in a strangely sick way, resembled a blood red “S” on her neck.

Within a few seconds, the two remaining fighters, surrounded, fall beneath the blades of the party. Siabrey, ignoring calls for her to be healed, dashed over towards Lucius.

“Lucius!” she shouted, as he stared towards the still twitching form of the bloody sorcerer he downed. He did not raise his head, nor did he seem to pay any attention to her calls for several moments, before seeming to snap back. With alarm, she noted his breath was short, coming in quick, sharp intakes. His eyes somehow were glowing brighter, and his skin was now scarlet, and approaching crimson. She grabbed him and pulled him close... his skin was blazing hot under his armor... she could feel it.

“W... what happened?” he managed to get out between gasps.

“Your bad magic, love!” she pulled away from her embrace and instead pulled him towards the door. “We need to hurry! I don’t know if he can last longer!” Siabrey called, no longer masking the fear in her voice. I can’t lose you! We can’t lose you!

“Siabrey, I don’t feel well... I’m scared!” he rasped as she dragged him further down the hall, the party in tow, not even taking the time to examine the bodies of those they had defeated...

 

[Emperor Valerian]

The Search for the Sword

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Siabrey gently but forcefully pulled Shaun and Elenya apart, “but we need to find the sword Ik Mataar before long.” She motioned with her head towards Lucius, and the faces of the rogue and newly minted wizard fell. Elenya was the first to nod firmly.

“I don’t know my way around here, but I can add what power I have to help,” she said. “I watched my jailer electrocute others... I watched and learned,” she wiggled her hands. Siabrey nodded absent mindedly. She’s trying to come to terms with whats happened, part of Siabrey’s mind recognized before she looked back at Lucius, his eyes still blazing white with some frightening, unseen power.

Hurry! she thought as the party burst from the torture room into another long hallway. From the left came more screeches and shouts from the huge battle they had passed earlier. More unnerving, noises came from the doorway directly in front of them.

Shaun peered carefully into the room, and saw what appeared to be stalls.... all the ones near the door looked to be empty. Ominously, what appeared to be a titanic metal collar hung from one wall... it was large enough it could have only been meant for a creature of truly titanic proportions, likely larger than Xanadu even. From one of the stalls on the end came an unnerving, high pitched chirp.

“Something is in there... its chirping,” Shaun called back to the group. “I guess they keep beasts here, though I don’t know what would require a neckcollar so large that it would fall off of even Xanadu...”

“I don’t want to find out,” Tess said quickly, pulling Shaun back. “Let’s focus on the sword... its clearly not in there.”

“We need to find the treasury,” Siabrye said, “or maybe the main armory. Its likely in one of those two places...”

“This way,” Elenya was already leaning, away from the noise of the demon/devil clash. “I don’t know what that is to the left, but I doubt we want to go find out.”

“You don’t. You really really don’t,” Siabrey nodded as the party set out. Heading at a dead run, a few seconds later they pass a room that seems to have weapons hanging along the walls. Darting in for a quick look, the party, with glee, realize they are in the armory...

... a sadly vacant armory, save two entirely non-magical swords and a regular piece of chain mail.

“Damn!” Tess kicked the wall, as Siabrey started to fidget in nervous worry. Let’s go! Let’s go! We have to save Lucius now!

As they started to re-enter the hallway, Tess (in the lead) had just enough time to see a face come around the corner ahead, followed by the shadows of more men. She tried to duck back into the armory quickly, but not fast enough.

“Hey! You! Stop!” echoed up the corridor, as the party fell flat against the armory wall. Tess prepared a songstrike, Lucius and Elenya prepared lightning bolts, as the rest notched arrows in preparation when the first would come into view.

“There’s seven of them, I think,” Tess said quietly, her spells ready in one hand, Fa’rallan in the other. The noises of running boots grew rapidly louder, as beads a sweat formed on Siabrey’s head.

We can’t afford to fight! she glanced nervously at Lucius, whose very face was growing deep etches into its visage, which was rapidly changing towards a deep scarlet. I don’t know how much longer he’ll last... especially if there is a fight to arouse his darker side!

Two clerics, clearly clad in the colors of the Countess, skidded to a halt in the doorway, but had little chance to speak as two lightning bolts, three songstrikes, and 6 arrows slashed their frames to shreds, molten, vibrating, pincushion like forms being all they left behind to testify to their existence.

Siabrey had taken time to activate her boots of speed, and dashed into the hallway with uncanny and feline speed. Her sword drawn, she took count of what she saw... a man and woman, both clad in the robes of a spellcaster, and three fighters clad in scale mail.

As she did this, the Gra’zzt sorcerer in the back drew into his fingers a small magical bead, which hurled into the small confines of the armory. Siabrey could only look in horror as flames jetted into the hallway from the perfect toss, though she was relieved to see everyone in the party still standing, albeit burnt or scorched.

Before she could recover, however, the other sorcerer was already holding her hand forth, and blue arcs of electricity flared out towards Siabrey. The fighter, blessed with inhuman grace and speed, managed to dodge the worst of the lightning strike, though nonetheless she felt a strong jolt rip through her shoulder, leaving scorched marks on her skin.

Seeing his friend Siabrey under attack from five people, Grumki lunges out of the room a split second after she did, and braving a slew of blows as he dashed by, the half orc made hard for the sorcerer that had shot Siabrey. With a shout of “Kord’s strength is your bane!” her slammed the sorceress in the gullet, and sickening cracks echoed through the corridor as three of her ribs broke.

As Shaun looks on in confusion and fury, Elenya began to shake again, fury rising within her. Her fingers extend to one of the fighteres that hit Grumki, and arcs of electricity leap out, catching the man full in the chest. He shuddered but did not fall as small blue arcs continued to dance across his body and armor.

Pellaron and Aris both charged out into the hallway as well, turning the confined space into a zone of mass chaos. Blades danced and sang as they clashed, the three warriors managing to keep everyone except Grumki from getting close to the sorcerers, who were clearly preparing yet another spell.

The physical bodies of the fighters could not stop the magic that ran in Lucius’ veins. His mounting fury and rage at what he had seen became unbridled just briefly, and he extended a hand towards the sorcerer that had launched a fireball into the middle of the group. With nary a movement on his part, Lucius caused the man’s throat to constrict and grow red as it was filled with blood. Shaking and gurgling in terror, the sorcerer collapsed to the ground, blood gurgling in a small stream from his mouth.

AS the fight continued, Siabrey’s blade found the jugular of one of the fighters to her front. However, the sorcerer being cornered by Grumki stepped back, and now free of his menacing warhammer, she extended a mauled hand... and a lightning bolt arced into Grumki’s skull. The massive half orc shuddered, and then fell over, life rapidly slipping from his form.

Aris pushed his way past the confused melee to Grumki’s side just seconds after the half orc’s fall, and laid hands upon the cleric’s massive skull, bringing Grumki back from the brink. Shaun dashed out to cover Aris, and carried his charge into the face of the sorceress as she tried desperately to prepare another spell. As he mouth started forming the first words of a spell, Shaun lunged forward with his rapier, its blade piercing into her throat. With a snap of his wrist, half of her throat was removed, and his wrists snapped back. The resulting fatal wound, in a strangely sick way, resembled a blood red “S” on her neck.

Within a few seconds, the two remaining fighters, surrounded, fall beneath the blades of the party. Siabrey, ignoring calls for her to be healed, dashed over towards Lucius.

“Lucius!” she shouted, as he stared towards the still twitching form of the bloody sorcerer he downed. He did not raise his head, nor did he seem to pay any attention to her calls for several moments, before seeming to snap back. With alarm, she noted his breath was short, coming in quick, sharp intakes. His eyes somehow were glowing brighter, and his skin was now scarlet, and approaching crimson. She grabbed him and pulled him close... his skin was blazing hot under his armor... she could feel it.

“W... what happened?” he managed to get out between gasps.

“Your bad magic, love!” she pulled away from her embrace and instead pulled him towards the door. “We need to hurry! I don’t know if he can last longer!” Siabrey called, no longer masking the fear in her voice. I can’t lose you! We can’t lose you!

“Siabrey, I don’t feel well... I’m scared!” he rasped as she dragged him further down the hall, the party in tow, not even taking the time to examine the bodies of those they had defeated...

 

[Emperor Valerian]

The Search for the Sword Part II

She wanted desperately to stop and hold him, but she was too afraid to. I know hon, I know Luke! “It’ll be alright!” she said hurriedly, pulling him further along. As they ran further along, Siabrey desperately peered into room after room they passed. All appeared rather nicely decorated, adorned with symbols of the Countess and Grazz’t, but none were a treasury or an armory.

During the raid of one of these rooms (in which an unarmed priest tried to resist, resulting in Siabrey planting her sword in the back of his head when he tried to scream out), Tess found something that chilled her to the bone.

It was a rather crude sketch of what looked to be a dragon, with a small stick figure beside it for comparison. The creature easily towered some 80 feet in the air... assuming the little stick man was 5 ft tall. Beneath it, in immaculate priestly calligraphy was the phrase, “Stalatan, Great Red Wyrm. Two relatives in H.”

Holy... glad that we won’t be facing THAT in here... H.? Could H be...

“Oh god,” the rest of the party heard her hiss quietly.

“What? Did you find the sword?” a panicky Siabrey pressed, as Shaun crowded close as well.

“No... the Countess has a at least two red dragons in Holstean... maybe even a Great Wyrm,” she held up the picture for the party. Several gasps went around, and faces fell, though Siabrey’s remained skeptical.

“How do we not know that was not just the idle scribbling of a bored priest?” she asked pointedly, before heading towards the door. “Take it if you wish, but I’m going to go look for the sword!” She tugged Lucius after her, and the party followed, Tess tucking the drawing into her pocket. A little further down, the party found a well made hallway heading off towards the left, and darted down it, certain that somwhere down this hall was the treasure they sought to heal their friend.

As they ran, Shaun, near the lead, suddenly called for everyone to stop.

There’s something glistening just above the floor there, he gingerly went forward, and leaned low, his eyes catching glimpse of the fine metal of a tripwire, one of the best he’d seen. Hmm... well... lets follow this wire and see where it goes... and what I can disa...”

A soft, weak gust of wind from somewhere (likely originating from the massive demon/devil war) blew the wire barely a fraction of an inch. It brushed his hand... and that was all that was required.

He heard a clunking noise from overhead, and rolled away just barely fast enough to avoid the tall blocks that fell both in front and behind him. They both came to the ground with an earth shattering smash, and Shaun quickly realized he was trapped. He could not hear Elenya’s panicked cries, or the party’s frantic calls to him. He did hear distant cracking noises on one of the blocks as the party began chipping away at it. And then another noise joined the distant chipping...

...a soft hiss.

Shaun coughed hard, and then began to gag as the room around him began to fill with poisonous fumes gushing from two small holes in the floor. Frantically he pushed the block he heard the chippings from, and finally took his own dagger and began carving as well. After a minute or two, he was forced to take a painful gasp of air, and his lungs screamed with burning as the poison now dug deep into him. Fortunately there was some oxygen left, and he was bale to begin holding his breath again, despite tears rolling down his face from the pain.

It was barely 30 seconds later that the rock in front of him sparked a large crack as a loud smack echoed in his prison. Quickly he began pulling at hte crack, and within seconds heard a clink as his dagger met something metal. He jerked his blade back, and watched as most of the roiling green vapors of the poison wafted out of the small hole. A few minutes afterwards, he saw a green eye peering in.

“Shauny!?” Elenya’s panicked voice called. “Are you ok?”

“Yes, sweetie!” he rasped, coughing. “I just had to hold my breath a little bit!” Good Hieroneous, I thought I was going to die there!

“Don’ worry!” the voice belonging to the tearied eye said, “We’ll get you out!”

The party spent another ten minutes carving a hole big enough for them to crawl through, and another fifteen cutting through the other stone to their front. While the blocks were airtight, they were only an inch or so thick, allowing the party to use their weapons to chip away holes (the rock also seemed rather weak as well).

After crawling through the last block, the party found themselves at a T-intersection. To their right was a doorway that opened to a larger room, and to their left as an ornate set of gilt double doors. The party sighed in relief, and dashed to the doors, in their joy not seeing that Lucius was starting to loll. Tess leaned her ear up against the door to listen inside, but as she touched the door, it swung full open.

The room they saw was elaborate and ornate, despite the fact it was carved out of solid rock. Tapestries and paintings covered the walls, as pleasant light came from a magical series of glowglobes overhead. A thick carpet covered the floor, with an ornate bed in one corner and a rather expensive looking desk in the middle. On the far side, beside the bed was what looked to be an exceptionally long dresser of some kind, also ornate. For all this finery, no piece of furniture dominated the room as much as its inhabitant.

Facing the party was something that looked like a mix between a man and a demon. The fearsome armor covering all of his body save his face was the form of a steel demon, dark with power and equipped with vicious, sharp claws on its steel hide. From inside the helm of this fearsome apparition glared the eyes of a man, clearly in his early forties by the tufts of dark and grey hair that hung barely in view.

In his hand he carried a fearsome weapon; a heavy flail that looked rusted and old. Flies lazily circled around it as he closed the drawer of the cabinet he was opening, and with a growl, launched himself towards the party, the flail raised high over his head.

Poor, unfortunate Igbar was in front, and the High Priest of Grazz’t concentrated his fury on the paladin of the hated Hieroneous. With one fell swing, Igbar’s skull was crushed to nearly a pancake, and even as the sickening crunches of a skull being decimated sank from the air, his limp form collapsed to the ground.

Lucius began wavering dangerously, but the party was too busy to notice, as Siabrey launched herself forward at the beast with a fury, trying to get his attention and keep him away from Lucius. Over here you brute! Here! Come and catch me, c’mon! She ducked and weaved his lumbering mass, landing several fell blows on him.

Pellaron, with an unearthly scream, launched himself at the beast as well, tears streaming from his face as his blade lashed deep into the creature’s armor. Still it lumbered, closer to Siabrey. Grumki’s warhammer joined in, clanging violently off of the creature, yet still it came. Shaun’s rapier lashed through one of the holes in the armor, and the creature noticeably shook, but continued its slow, inevitable pursuit.

Tess, after seeing what befell her comrade, let lose with a frightening burst of song, shaking the creature’s armor vigorously, and causing it heavy damage, even as three magic missiles from Elenya found their target at the same time. As if it was a tottering giant, it still lumbered forward, unevenly.

It was at this point that Lucius finally keeled over, the strength of evil around him finally too much. His skin was now a deep crimson, his eyes brighter than twin moons. His mouth hung open, and small gasps of air came out, his body shuddering.

At the same time, the massive creature of a man swung at Siabrey, his flail crushing in one of her shoulder pieces, and piercing to the bone. She felt soemthing horrible come into her from the weapon... it seemed one of the flies buzzing around it tried to burrow into her skin, and she could feel it wiggling around. She wrenched her shoulder away, gasping in terrible pain as she did so. The wiggling around stopped, and she could barely hold onto her blade, as she tried to clutch her wounded shoulder.

Shaun leapt in front of his wounded friend, and his rapier danced through the air in a blinding series of fakes, false thrusts, and lunges. The lumbering man in dark armor fell for each, leaning slowly and twisting himself to try and stay away. In a fatal miscalculation, he ended up leaning forward to avoid a faked thrust, leaving his neck partially exposed. The priest did not have the time to see Shaun’s smile of satisfaction before the rogue’s rapier slashed a deep “S” into his throat, and the mass of putrid humanity collapsed to the ground, his crimson blood staining his blue carpet.

It was now that Lucius’ muffled whimpers could be heard by the party, and Tess, Shaun, Grumki and Elenya were swiftly by the poor boy’s side. The paladins immediately tended to their fallen comrade. Siabrey was in the lead of those tending Lucius, her desperately painful wound long forgotten as she cradled his head.

“Lucius!” she cried, shaking him, “Lucius! Wake up! Please! Please wake up!” Oh God! Lucius! Come back to me! Please!