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JollyDoc's Serpent's Skull-updated 11/6/2011
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<blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 5720408" data-attributes="member: 9546"><p><strong>A way forward</strong></p><p></p><p>In the northern section of the ruins rose a tremendous mound of vegetation, barely recognizable as a great, overgrown structure. Yet standing beneath the dripping leaves and vines was a multitiered stone ziggurat of ancient construction. Having sunk into the dark Mwangi soil over the centuries, the lowest tier was only partially exposed, and its heavy stone doors were almost completely obscured by hanging vegetation. As it was, it took Gorak and Nessalin working together for several minutes to force the great portals open. Beyond was a small foyer with doors on each wall. A large puddle of water seeped from beneath the one directly across from the main entrance. </p><p></p><p>The companions turned first to the door on the north wall, to the right of the exterior doors. It opened easily enough, revealing a hall, the high-arched ceiling of which was embedded with glittering crystals to represent a starry sky. Friezes along the walls showed people of noble bearing travelling through a variety of landscapes and terrains. The hall ended at a curved flight of descending stairs. </p><p>“These are the motifs of Desna,” Agnar mused as he stared at the carvings. “Humph. I wasn’t aware that the Azlanti counted gypsies among their number.”</p><p>Suddenly, a soft, metallic susurrus echoed from the far end of the hall. A trio of serpents emerged from the darkness, their eyes glowing red, and their scales not of flesh but of metal…mithral in fact. As they flashed towards the Bastards, Zavasta tossed a globe of acid among them. One of them dissolved instantly into a pool of liquid slag, while the hides of the other two smoked and hissed. Still they came, sidewinding and twisting. Jack slashed the head from the nearest, and then the last struck and sank its fangs into his ankle, twisting its coils around his feet and sending him sprawling to the floor. As it reared and flared its hood to strike again, Gorak smashed it to pieces. </p><p>“I cannot believe there are still guardians here, after all this time,” Jack said.</p><p>“The Azlanti were said to be a marvelous race,” Lyrissa replied, “descended from the gods themselves. Who knows what they were capable of? If Saventh-Yhi has remained hidden for millennia, then nothing that we find here, a mere outpost, should surprise us.</p><p></p><p>The stairs at the far end of the hall led nowhere, having long ago collapsed into rubble. The companions returned to the foyer, and chose the southern door next. Faded, yellowish-brown paint flaked from the ceiling of the room beyond, which was decorated with solar designs. Cracked, faded paintings on the walls depicted ancient soldiers fighting snake-headed creatures under bright skies. The stonework beneath appeared damp and was covered with condensation. </p><p>“Now this is interesting,” Agnar said as he took in the décor. “These are representations of Nurgal, the demon-lord of warfare and the sun. I’m gaining respect for ancient Azlant. It seems they were practical in their worship, calling upon whichever god would aid them most according to their need.”</p><p>“A war god,” Gorak grinned. “I like!”</p><p>He stepped into the room just as Nkechi shouted from behind him.</p><p>“No! Wait!”</p><p>It was too late. As the barbarian crossed the threshold, what had appeared to be nothing more than a layer of yellowed dust on the floor suddenly exploded into a thick cloud. </p><p>“It’s yellow mold!” the old priest warned as Gorak gagged and choked. “Use fire! Destroy it!”</p><p>Nessalin quickly fished a flask from his belt and hurled it to the floor. As it struck, it exploded into a pool of alchemical fire that rapidly consumed the mold spores.</p><p>“It would seem that ancient guardians aren’t the only thing we need to worry about,” Arioch remarked. “There may just be plenty of old-fashioned monsters and hazards about that will kill us just as efficiently.”</p><p></p><p>Again, the side chamber offered no means of exit, and so once more the companions returned to the foyer. It seemed the western doors, from beneath which the water seeped, was their only option. Beyond, high walls surrounded an open-air courtyard that was entirely overgrown with wild brush. From amid the dense vegetation rose a single massive stone pillar, sheared off just above the middle tier of the ziggurat. A crumbling staircase arched over the courtyard, descending from the middle tier. The stairway curved around the pillar, then continued into the brush and through a stone arch into darkness. Jack and Gorak led the way, proceeding with caution. They two had gone no more than few steps in, however, when they both came to a halt. Gorak simply stood, blinking in confusion. Jack, however, was horrified to see that his sword had suddenly transformed into a hissing viper! He screamed in disgust, dropping the snake, and then turned and barreled through the others as he fled like the wind. </p><p>“What the…?” Zavasta began, and then he saw it.</p><p>At the far corner of the courtyard stood a tall, fleshy plant. As the alchemist’s eyes fell upon it, it began to move.</p><p>“It’s a basidirond!” Zav exclaimed. “Its spores are a powerful hallucinogen, but they’re invisible! Hold your breath!”</p><p>“To the Hell’s with that!” Arioch sneered. “I’ve got a better idea.”</p><p>The summoner opened a circle, and a quartet of whirling air elementals flew through. At their master’s command, they formed themselves into small whirlwinds and went spinning about the courtyard, clearing the poisonous air within seconds. As one of them flew past the killer plant, however, it extended one of its fronds and swatted the elemental to the ground. Then the other three swarmed it and beat it to a pulpy paste. </p><p>“Well that takes care of that,” Arioch said with satisfaction. “Now somebody snap Gorak out of it and go find Jack.”</p><p>______________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p>Beyond the courtyard, the Bastards found themselves in what was obviously the ziggurat’s main hall. Almost half of the cavernous chamber surrounded a smaller, inner structure. The ceiling had collapsed in some places, and a tangle of vines, mosses, and other plants grew in the thick mud that covered the floor. Three wasps, easily the size of small horses, crawled about the floor, gathering mud and bits of plant matter. When they saw intruders, they buzzed their wings angrily and took to the air.</p><p></p><p>Gorak, Nessalin and Lyrissa formed a wall, the bard’s voice raised in a battle chorus. Gorak slashed at one of the insects as it flew past, but a second one looped around behind the barbarian and jabbed its stinger through his back. Then Arioch’s elementals entered the fray, and the wasps became preoccupied with the new threat. Nessalin’s sword spit acid as the magus channeled his magic through it, Jack’s twin blades spun in a blur, and Lyrissa’s blade thrust and darted as if it were alive. In a matter of moments, the wasps were down. </p><p></p><p>While the others moved to investigate the smaller structure in the center of the main hall, Jack moved towards a small door on the far north wall. The door was unlocked. Beyond, stairs flanked by broken columns led down to a wide, sunken courtyard. The entire room was set in white marble, trimmed with elaborate inlays of jade and turquoise. Along the south wall, four small, faceless humanoid statues carved from pale, bluish stone hovered above marble display pedestals. Jack moved slowly towards the carvings to get a better view. As he drew closer, he saw that the blank ‘faces’ of the statuettes swirled with a multitude of swirling colors. They were almost…hypnotic…</p><p></p><p>Gorak peered around the corner of the structure, and for a moment, just stood and stared, speechless. A bulging conglomeration of layered paper and mud completely filled the small room. More of the papery substance clung to the surrounding stonework, securing the mass to the walls, floor, and ceiling. A few feet above the floor, a wide hole burrowed into the structure. From somewhere within, a deep, continuous droning could be heard. Gorak turned and looked at his companions, then shrugged and crawled into the massive nest. The honeycombed passages twisted and turned until ending in a large, inner chamber. There, crouched over a clutch of eggs, was a truly massive wasp, blood-red in color, with wickedly curved spikes and hooks protruding from its carapace. It didn’t take a mental giant, which Gorak certainly was not, to see that the giant queen was not pleased at being disturbed. She rushed towards the barbarian, and though he slashed viciously with his sword as she came, she still managed to thrust her stinger through his leg. He snarled through his tusks, then brought his blade down full force on the embedded stinger, severing it from the queen’s body. She buzzed furiously and began to back away, but Gorak leaped after her and drove his sword through her thorax, pinning her to the wall behind her. Her wings fluttered weakly for a few more moments, then were still.</p><p></p><p>As Jack continued to stare raptly at the statues, one of them spoke to him.</p><p>“Lay down your weapons and await judgment.”</p><p>That sounded perfectly reasonable to Jack, so he loosened his weapon cords and laid his swords on the ground. At that moment, Lyrissa entered the chamber, having observed Jack’s surreptitious departure, and, knowing the rogue as she did, became immediately suspicious. When she saw him standing slack-jawed before the statues, the bardess grew wary, but as she turned back towards the door to warn the others, the fascinating weave of colors that played across the faces of the carvings caught her eye.</p><p></p><p>Gorak crawled back out of the nest, bloodied and gore-covered. </p><p>“I was just about to send the elementals in after you,” Arioch said. “I see that you could take care of yourself.”</p><p>The barbarian grunted.</p><p>“Where are Jack and Lyrissa?” the summoner asked, just noticing the absence of the two. </p><p>“Can’t speak for the thief,” Agnar said, “but the songstress just went that way.”</p><p>He nodded towards the far door.</p><p>Arioch walked to the doorway and glanced inside. When he saw his transfixed companions he immediately drew back.</p><p>“They’re mesmerized,” he said to the others. “If we go in there, whatever has them will probably take us too. I have an idea.”</p><p>He turned to his elemental minions.</p><p>“Get in there and, gently, mind you, give those two a shove.”</p><p>The elementals bobbed their understanding and whirled into the room. They bumped forcefully into Jack and Lyrissa, buffeting them with their cyclonic winds. Immediately the pair snapped back to themselves and looked around, blinking in confusion. </p><p>“Get out of there!” Arioch shouted. “Cover your eyes!”</p><p>Lyrissa darted for the door, but as Jack turned to follow, a ray of light from one of the statues enveloped him, and he found himself rooted to the spot. </p><p>“Damn it!” Arioch cursed. “Destroy the statues!” he commanded the elementals.</p><p>They rushed forward, and as they did, the four statues became animate, and unfolded from their seated positions. A flurry of violence ensued, with the elementals whirling about and striking at the statuettes, and being struck in turn as the carvings moved with uncanny speed and precision. In the melee, Jack suddenly found himself free. He snatched up his swords and, instead of doing the intelligent thing and leaving, leaped into the fray. Arioch cursed and rolled his eyes, he cursed even louder as Gorak and Nessalin rushed past him and threw themselves into the chaos. As they did, however, the statues turned on them. One after another, the constructs unleashed red beams at the three Bastards, and as the light struck them, each of them suddenly shrank to half their size. Still, that didn’t stop the warriors. Within moments, the tide of the battle was turned, and one after another, the statues were smashed to pieces. As they were destroyed, however, something truly remarkable happened: images began appearing in the air of the chamber, showing four intricately carved pillars, each associated with a different celestial force…the moon, the sun, the stars, and the darkness in between. Instinctively, the Bastards knew what they were being shown: a combination to unlock a map to Savinth-Yhi. They also knew that the moonstone they’d recovered from the charau-ka was a key to the combination as well. They had only to find the pillars, as well as the three other stones.</p><p>____________________________________________________________</p><p></p><p> </p><p>Beyond the main hall, the companions found themselves in a small, dark room that was flooded with stagnant water. The walls and ceiling were carved from a darker stone than they’d seen in the rest of the building, and were covered with numerous intertwining carvings that depicted nameless and disturbing creatures. Stone stairs rose out of the water to disappear through the south wall above two stone doors. Arioch sent his remaining elementals ahead to investigate the chamber, but when they entered the water, they immediately found themselves swarmed by thousands of leeches. At the summoner’s command, the elementals whirled themselves into vortexes that still touched the water, forming small water spouts. They then sucked the leeches from the pool and deposited them, flapping and helpless, upon the stone floor of the main hall. Arioch them called a pair of fire elementals to him and commanded them to set the parasites ablaze. Once the room was free of danger, Agnar was able to identify the carvings on the wall as representations of the alien gods of the Dark Tapestry, the lightless void between the stars.</p><p></p><p>Through the doors that flanked the stone stairs was another small chamber. A huge circle of grayish-white stone covered the floor in its center. It was inscribed with detailed carvings of geographical features. Mosaic friezes that ran along the top and bottom of the walls depicted warriors in archaic armor battling a race of snake-headed people under dark skies. It wasn’t hard for Agnar to determine that the carving on the floor was a representation of the moon. So, they had found shrines to the stars, the sun, the Dark Tapestry, and the moon. Now they had to find the pillars they’d seen in the visions from the idols. The only way left to go was up.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The Bastards emerged from the stairs on the outside of the second tier of the ziggurat. Directly in front of them was a heavy stone door that apparently led back into the interior of the pyramid. Gorak, thankfully having regained his normal stature, shoved the door, but found it stuck fast. He leaned into it and heaved, but still had no luck. Finally, Lyrissa pulled a crowbar from her pack and together they managed to wedge the portal open. Beyond, a wide room had a high, arched ceiling painted with fading pastel swirls. Its walls were carved with seemingly random combinations of branching lines, connected to patterns of overlapping circles of various sizes. Along the opposite wall, a flight of stairs led up to the next tier. What immediately caught the attention of the barbarian and the bard, however, was the serpent-headed creature, clothed in brilliant red robes, who clung to the wall like a giant spider near the room’s ceiling. </p><p></p><p>“What? What do you see?” Arioch called from outside.</p><p>Before he received an answer, however, a screeching cacophony sounded from around the right side of the ziggurat. Arioch glanced that way and saw a pair of charau-ka charging towards him. One of them went to all-fours and charged right into the summoner, sinking its teeth into his arm. At the exact same moment, two more of the ape-men came rushing into the room with the serpent-man from an archway on the far side. Right behind them came a truly massive creature. Superficially, it resembled a gorilla, but its bone-white fur and additional pair of arms identified it as something much more. Two more charau-ka leaped down the stairs into the chamber, while outside, to make bad matters worse, a giant hornet rose above the ledge of the tier, droning in anger at both the Bastards and their opponents.</p><p></p><p>Arioch stumbled away from the attacking charau-ka, and hastily opened a circle. His other minions had long-since departed back to their home planes, and so he called another quartet of earth elementals to his side. Two of them immediately set upon the charau-ka, beating it to the ground and then tossing it over the side of the pyramid. The other two seized the second ape-man and broke its neck and spine with crushing blows of their fists. Meanwhile, inside the room, Gorak rushed to meet one of the charau-ka coming down the stairs. It swung at him with its club, but the big barbarian batted the blow aside and ran the monkey through with his sword. As it fell back, Gorak surged forward, rage consuming him as horns sprouted from his brow. He lowered his head and gored the second charau-ka, then finished it off as it tried to escape his wrath. Below, Lyrissa moved into the room to cover Gorak’s back, but as she stepped in, the girallon loomed over her. Before she could raise her sword in defense, it lunged for her, seizing her arm in its mouth, and then sweeping her legs from under her with one massive paw. The last thing she saw before oblivion was the monster’s other three paws descending towards her.</p><p></p><p>Arioch saw the writing on the wall. The girallon was going to kill them all if left to its own devices. He ordered his elementals into the room, and then called three more to back them up. As they rolled in, one of the remaining two charau-ka warriors leaped at them, and smashed one of them to rubble in a frenzy of violence. The others swarmed past the ape-man and surrounded the girallon, harrying it from all sides. The great ape brought one massive fist down upon one of them and crushed it to dust. Then Jack, also back to normal, came tumbling into the room and rolled to his feet behind the beast. Gorak leaped down the stairs and caught its attention from the front. The pair struck simultaneously, and the elementals rushed in as well. The combined fury of the assault brought the four-armed brute down within seconds. Then the elementals turned their attention to the pair of screaming charau-ka. Fearless, the ape-men hurled themselves at the stony outsiders, but their efforts were in vain, and they were buried under an avalanche of fists. Suddenly, a flash of scorching fire streaked from above, setting Jack’s clothes ablaze. He yelped and rolled on the floor to extinguish himself, and then looked up. He could see the serpentfolk sorcerer already lining up for another shot.</p><p></p><p>Zavasta cursed roundly. All of the heavy hitters were otherwise occupied, leaving only himself standing between one pissed off giant wasp and the squishies, Agnar and Nkechi. The alchemist was out of bombs. All he had was steel. Cursing again, he unfurled his wings, drew his sword, and charged. Meanwhile, as Arioch finally started to breath a bit easier, his heart suddenly fell again as he saw another half-dozen charau-ka swarming over the edge of the tier. In desperation, for he had expired his summoning ability for the day, he conjured a pool of greasy fluid in front of the charging apes. It bought him some time as they fell, slipping, screaming and biting in the goo. </p><p>“Gorak!” he shouted. “We’ve got trouble!!”</p><p></p><p>Gorak didn’t question. He simply came charging out, and came face to face with the shrieking horde. Even though they were scrambling to get to their feet, they still managed to flail their clubs at the big barbarian, keeping him momentarily at bay…at least until he could bring his sword to bear and began cutting them down. </p><p></p><p>Agnar, in the mean time, was at loose ends. Lyrissa was down, but still in the thick of things. He couldn’t reach her. There were a great deal of dead charau-ka around, but animating them would only gain him temporary cannon fodder. If he could only reach the lovely corpse of the girallon. He glanced into the room and saw Jack trying to dodge for his life the barrage of the snake-head sorcerer still clinging to the ceiling, where it was safely out of reach of the elementals. He had an idea. With a quick prayer, he tossed a simple dispelling charm at the serpentman, and just like that, the sorcerer lost his grip and plummeted to the floor. He climbed shakily to his feet, but by that time the elementals were upon him. One drove a fist into his gut, doubling him over, but the sorcerer was as fast as a snake. He recovered and darted to the side, then hissed a spell and unleashed a scorching bolt of lightning that instantly obliterated two of the elementals, ripped through Jack, and even managed to jolt Gorak standing outside the door.</p><p></p><p>Gorak shook off the blast, his rage all-consuming. He hacked apart another charau-ka as the rest scrambled free of the grease and swarmed him, hammering with their clubs. Still, they were children facing a titan. The barbarian roared and laid about him with his sword, simultaneously lowering his head and goring with his horns. Blood dripping from him, both his own and that of his opponents, he put down the last of the ape-men, and then turned back towards the inner chamber.</p><p></p><p>The elementals continued to pursue the sorcerer, landing occasional lucky blows. Then, he loosed another lightning bolt, and destroyed them all. Agnar chose that moment to dart into the room. While the sorcerer was distracted, he laid his hands upon the body of the girallon and channeled dark energy into it. With a roar, the great beast arose, lurching to its feet. The sorcerer realized too late what had happened. He turned and spread his hands, unleashing a cone of fire at the new zombie and Agnar. He saw Gorak stalk into the room, and turned his serpentine eyes upon the barbarian.</p><p>“This fight is no longer yours,” he hissed. “Your companions are lost. Save yourself.”</p><p>Gorak looked confused for a moment, and then he simply shrugged and walked away.</p><p>Suddenly, the zombified girallon loomed up behind the sorcerer and wrapped its four arms around him, lifting him into the air. He struggled feebly to break free, but then Jack was there, thrusting both his blades through the sorcerer’s chest. His struggles ceased.</p><p></p><p>Zavasta came shambling around the corner of the tier, dragging the body of the wasp behind him.</p><p>“What’d I miss?” he grumbled.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JollyDoc, post: 5720408, member: 9546"] [b]A way forward[/b] In the northern section of the ruins rose a tremendous mound of vegetation, barely recognizable as a great, overgrown structure. Yet standing beneath the dripping leaves and vines was a multitiered stone ziggurat of ancient construction. Having sunk into the dark Mwangi soil over the centuries, the lowest tier was only partially exposed, and its heavy stone doors were almost completely obscured by hanging vegetation. As it was, it took Gorak and Nessalin working together for several minutes to force the great portals open. Beyond was a small foyer with doors on each wall. A large puddle of water seeped from beneath the one directly across from the main entrance. The companions turned first to the door on the north wall, to the right of the exterior doors. It opened easily enough, revealing a hall, the high-arched ceiling of which was embedded with glittering crystals to represent a starry sky. Friezes along the walls showed people of noble bearing travelling through a variety of landscapes and terrains. The hall ended at a curved flight of descending stairs. “These are the motifs of Desna,” Agnar mused as he stared at the carvings. “Humph. I wasn’t aware that the Azlanti counted gypsies among their number.” Suddenly, a soft, metallic susurrus echoed from the far end of the hall. A trio of serpents emerged from the darkness, their eyes glowing red, and their scales not of flesh but of metal…mithral in fact. As they flashed towards the Bastards, Zavasta tossed a globe of acid among them. One of them dissolved instantly into a pool of liquid slag, while the hides of the other two smoked and hissed. Still they came, sidewinding and twisting. Jack slashed the head from the nearest, and then the last struck and sank its fangs into his ankle, twisting its coils around his feet and sending him sprawling to the floor. As it reared and flared its hood to strike again, Gorak smashed it to pieces. “I cannot believe there are still guardians here, after all this time,” Jack said. “The Azlanti were said to be a marvelous race,” Lyrissa replied, “descended from the gods themselves. Who knows what they were capable of? If Saventh-Yhi has remained hidden for millennia, then nothing that we find here, a mere outpost, should surprise us. The stairs at the far end of the hall led nowhere, having long ago collapsed into rubble. The companions returned to the foyer, and chose the southern door next. Faded, yellowish-brown paint flaked from the ceiling of the room beyond, which was decorated with solar designs. Cracked, faded paintings on the walls depicted ancient soldiers fighting snake-headed creatures under bright skies. The stonework beneath appeared damp and was covered with condensation. “Now this is interesting,” Agnar said as he took in the décor. “These are representations of Nurgal, the demon-lord of warfare and the sun. I’m gaining respect for ancient Azlant. It seems they were practical in their worship, calling upon whichever god would aid them most according to their need.” “A war god,” Gorak grinned. “I like!” He stepped into the room just as Nkechi shouted from behind him. “No! Wait!” It was too late. As the barbarian crossed the threshold, what had appeared to be nothing more than a layer of yellowed dust on the floor suddenly exploded into a thick cloud. “It’s yellow mold!” the old priest warned as Gorak gagged and choked. “Use fire! Destroy it!” Nessalin quickly fished a flask from his belt and hurled it to the floor. As it struck, it exploded into a pool of alchemical fire that rapidly consumed the mold spores. “It would seem that ancient guardians aren’t the only thing we need to worry about,” Arioch remarked. “There may just be plenty of old-fashioned monsters and hazards about that will kill us just as efficiently.” Again, the side chamber offered no means of exit, and so once more the companions returned to the foyer. It seemed the western doors, from beneath which the water seeped, was their only option. Beyond, high walls surrounded an open-air courtyard that was entirely overgrown with wild brush. From amid the dense vegetation rose a single massive stone pillar, sheared off just above the middle tier of the ziggurat. A crumbling staircase arched over the courtyard, descending from the middle tier. The stairway curved around the pillar, then continued into the brush and through a stone arch into darkness. Jack and Gorak led the way, proceeding with caution. They two had gone no more than few steps in, however, when they both came to a halt. Gorak simply stood, blinking in confusion. Jack, however, was horrified to see that his sword had suddenly transformed into a hissing viper! He screamed in disgust, dropping the snake, and then turned and barreled through the others as he fled like the wind. “What the…?” Zavasta began, and then he saw it. At the far corner of the courtyard stood a tall, fleshy plant. As the alchemist’s eyes fell upon it, it began to move. “It’s a basidirond!” Zav exclaimed. “Its spores are a powerful hallucinogen, but they’re invisible! Hold your breath!” “To the Hell’s with that!” Arioch sneered. “I’ve got a better idea.” The summoner opened a circle, and a quartet of whirling air elementals flew through. At their master’s command, they formed themselves into small whirlwinds and went spinning about the courtyard, clearing the poisonous air within seconds. As one of them flew past the killer plant, however, it extended one of its fronds and swatted the elemental to the ground. Then the other three swarmed it and beat it to a pulpy paste. “Well that takes care of that,” Arioch said with satisfaction. “Now somebody snap Gorak out of it and go find Jack.” ______________________________________________________________ Beyond the courtyard, the Bastards found themselves in what was obviously the ziggurat’s main hall. Almost half of the cavernous chamber surrounded a smaller, inner structure. The ceiling had collapsed in some places, and a tangle of vines, mosses, and other plants grew in the thick mud that covered the floor. Three wasps, easily the size of small horses, crawled about the floor, gathering mud and bits of plant matter. When they saw intruders, they buzzed their wings angrily and took to the air. Gorak, Nessalin and Lyrissa formed a wall, the bard’s voice raised in a battle chorus. Gorak slashed at one of the insects as it flew past, but a second one looped around behind the barbarian and jabbed its stinger through his back. Then Arioch’s elementals entered the fray, and the wasps became preoccupied with the new threat. Nessalin’s sword spit acid as the magus channeled his magic through it, Jack’s twin blades spun in a blur, and Lyrissa’s blade thrust and darted as if it were alive. In a matter of moments, the wasps were down. While the others moved to investigate the smaller structure in the center of the main hall, Jack moved towards a small door on the far north wall. The door was unlocked. Beyond, stairs flanked by broken columns led down to a wide, sunken courtyard. The entire room was set in white marble, trimmed with elaborate inlays of jade and turquoise. Along the south wall, four small, faceless humanoid statues carved from pale, bluish stone hovered above marble display pedestals. Jack moved slowly towards the carvings to get a better view. As he drew closer, he saw that the blank ‘faces’ of the statuettes swirled with a multitude of swirling colors. They were almost…hypnotic… Gorak peered around the corner of the structure, and for a moment, just stood and stared, speechless. A bulging conglomeration of layered paper and mud completely filled the small room. More of the papery substance clung to the surrounding stonework, securing the mass to the walls, floor, and ceiling. A few feet above the floor, a wide hole burrowed into the structure. From somewhere within, a deep, continuous droning could be heard. Gorak turned and looked at his companions, then shrugged and crawled into the massive nest. The honeycombed passages twisted and turned until ending in a large, inner chamber. There, crouched over a clutch of eggs, was a truly massive wasp, blood-red in color, with wickedly curved spikes and hooks protruding from its carapace. It didn’t take a mental giant, which Gorak certainly was not, to see that the giant queen was not pleased at being disturbed. She rushed towards the barbarian, and though he slashed viciously with his sword as she came, she still managed to thrust her stinger through his leg. He snarled through his tusks, then brought his blade down full force on the embedded stinger, severing it from the queen’s body. She buzzed furiously and began to back away, but Gorak leaped after her and drove his sword through her thorax, pinning her to the wall behind her. Her wings fluttered weakly for a few more moments, then were still. As Jack continued to stare raptly at the statues, one of them spoke to him. “Lay down your weapons and await judgment.” That sounded perfectly reasonable to Jack, so he loosened his weapon cords and laid his swords on the ground. At that moment, Lyrissa entered the chamber, having observed Jack’s surreptitious departure, and, knowing the rogue as she did, became immediately suspicious. When she saw him standing slack-jawed before the statues, the bardess grew wary, but as she turned back towards the door to warn the others, the fascinating weave of colors that played across the faces of the carvings caught her eye. Gorak crawled back out of the nest, bloodied and gore-covered. “I was just about to send the elementals in after you,” Arioch said. “I see that you could take care of yourself.” The barbarian grunted. “Where are Jack and Lyrissa?” the summoner asked, just noticing the absence of the two. “Can’t speak for the thief,” Agnar said, “but the songstress just went that way.” He nodded towards the far door. Arioch walked to the doorway and glanced inside. When he saw his transfixed companions he immediately drew back. “They’re mesmerized,” he said to the others. “If we go in there, whatever has them will probably take us too. I have an idea.” He turned to his elemental minions. “Get in there and, gently, mind you, give those two a shove.” The elementals bobbed their understanding and whirled into the room. They bumped forcefully into Jack and Lyrissa, buffeting them with their cyclonic winds. Immediately the pair snapped back to themselves and looked around, blinking in confusion. “Get out of there!” Arioch shouted. “Cover your eyes!” Lyrissa darted for the door, but as Jack turned to follow, a ray of light from one of the statues enveloped him, and he found himself rooted to the spot. “Damn it!” Arioch cursed. “Destroy the statues!” he commanded the elementals. They rushed forward, and as they did, the four statues became animate, and unfolded from their seated positions. A flurry of violence ensued, with the elementals whirling about and striking at the statuettes, and being struck in turn as the carvings moved with uncanny speed and precision. In the melee, Jack suddenly found himself free. He snatched up his swords and, instead of doing the intelligent thing and leaving, leaped into the fray. Arioch cursed and rolled his eyes, he cursed even louder as Gorak and Nessalin rushed past him and threw themselves into the chaos. As they did, however, the statues turned on them. One after another, the constructs unleashed red beams at the three Bastards, and as the light struck them, each of them suddenly shrank to half their size. Still, that didn’t stop the warriors. Within moments, the tide of the battle was turned, and one after another, the statues were smashed to pieces. As they were destroyed, however, something truly remarkable happened: images began appearing in the air of the chamber, showing four intricately carved pillars, each associated with a different celestial force…the moon, the sun, the stars, and the darkness in between. Instinctively, the Bastards knew what they were being shown: a combination to unlock a map to Savinth-Yhi. They also knew that the moonstone they’d recovered from the charau-ka was a key to the combination as well. They had only to find the pillars, as well as the three other stones. ____________________________________________________________ Beyond the main hall, the companions found themselves in a small, dark room that was flooded with stagnant water. The walls and ceiling were carved from a darker stone than they’d seen in the rest of the building, and were covered with numerous intertwining carvings that depicted nameless and disturbing creatures. Stone stairs rose out of the water to disappear through the south wall above two stone doors. Arioch sent his remaining elementals ahead to investigate the chamber, but when they entered the water, they immediately found themselves swarmed by thousands of leeches. At the summoner’s command, the elementals whirled themselves into vortexes that still touched the water, forming small water spouts. They then sucked the leeches from the pool and deposited them, flapping and helpless, upon the stone floor of the main hall. Arioch them called a pair of fire elementals to him and commanded them to set the parasites ablaze. Once the room was free of danger, Agnar was able to identify the carvings on the wall as representations of the alien gods of the Dark Tapestry, the lightless void between the stars. Through the doors that flanked the stone stairs was another small chamber. A huge circle of grayish-white stone covered the floor in its center. It was inscribed with detailed carvings of geographical features. Mosaic friezes that ran along the top and bottom of the walls depicted warriors in archaic armor battling a race of snake-headed people under dark skies. It wasn’t hard for Agnar to determine that the carving on the floor was a representation of the moon. So, they had found shrines to the stars, the sun, the Dark Tapestry, and the moon. Now they had to find the pillars they’d seen in the visions from the idols. The only way left to go was up. The Bastards emerged from the stairs on the outside of the second tier of the ziggurat. Directly in front of them was a heavy stone door that apparently led back into the interior of the pyramid. Gorak, thankfully having regained his normal stature, shoved the door, but found it stuck fast. He leaned into it and heaved, but still had no luck. Finally, Lyrissa pulled a crowbar from her pack and together they managed to wedge the portal open. Beyond, a wide room had a high, arched ceiling painted with fading pastel swirls. Its walls were carved with seemingly random combinations of branching lines, connected to patterns of overlapping circles of various sizes. Along the opposite wall, a flight of stairs led up to the next tier. What immediately caught the attention of the barbarian and the bard, however, was the serpent-headed creature, clothed in brilliant red robes, who clung to the wall like a giant spider near the room’s ceiling. “What? What do you see?” Arioch called from outside. Before he received an answer, however, a screeching cacophony sounded from around the right side of the ziggurat. Arioch glanced that way and saw a pair of charau-ka charging towards him. One of them went to all-fours and charged right into the summoner, sinking its teeth into his arm. At the exact same moment, two more of the ape-men came rushing into the room with the serpent-man from an archway on the far side. Right behind them came a truly massive creature. Superficially, it resembled a gorilla, but its bone-white fur and additional pair of arms identified it as something much more. Two more charau-ka leaped down the stairs into the chamber, while outside, to make bad matters worse, a giant hornet rose above the ledge of the tier, droning in anger at both the Bastards and their opponents. Arioch stumbled away from the attacking charau-ka, and hastily opened a circle. His other minions had long-since departed back to their home planes, and so he called another quartet of earth elementals to his side. Two of them immediately set upon the charau-ka, beating it to the ground and then tossing it over the side of the pyramid. The other two seized the second ape-man and broke its neck and spine with crushing blows of their fists. Meanwhile, inside the room, Gorak rushed to meet one of the charau-ka coming down the stairs. It swung at him with its club, but the big barbarian batted the blow aside and ran the monkey through with his sword. As it fell back, Gorak surged forward, rage consuming him as horns sprouted from his brow. He lowered his head and gored the second charau-ka, then finished it off as it tried to escape his wrath. Below, Lyrissa moved into the room to cover Gorak’s back, but as she stepped in, the girallon loomed over her. Before she could raise her sword in defense, it lunged for her, seizing her arm in its mouth, and then sweeping her legs from under her with one massive paw. The last thing she saw before oblivion was the monster’s other three paws descending towards her. Arioch saw the writing on the wall. The girallon was going to kill them all if left to its own devices. He ordered his elementals into the room, and then called three more to back them up. As they rolled in, one of the remaining two charau-ka warriors leaped at them, and smashed one of them to rubble in a frenzy of violence. The others swarmed past the ape-man and surrounded the girallon, harrying it from all sides. The great ape brought one massive fist down upon one of them and crushed it to dust. Then Jack, also back to normal, came tumbling into the room and rolled to his feet behind the beast. Gorak leaped down the stairs and caught its attention from the front. The pair struck simultaneously, and the elementals rushed in as well. The combined fury of the assault brought the four-armed brute down within seconds. Then the elementals turned their attention to the pair of screaming charau-ka. Fearless, the ape-men hurled themselves at the stony outsiders, but their efforts were in vain, and they were buried under an avalanche of fists. Suddenly, a flash of scorching fire streaked from above, setting Jack’s clothes ablaze. He yelped and rolled on the floor to extinguish himself, and then looked up. He could see the serpentfolk sorcerer already lining up for another shot. Zavasta cursed roundly. All of the heavy hitters were otherwise occupied, leaving only himself standing between one pissed off giant wasp and the squishies, Agnar and Nkechi. The alchemist was out of bombs. All he had was steel. Cursing again, he unfurled his wings, drew his sword, and charged. Meanwhile, as Arioch finally started to breath a bit easier, his heart suddenly fell again as he saw another half-dozen charau-ka swarming over the edge of the tier. In desperation, for he had expired his summoning ability for the day, he conjured a pool of greasy fluid in front of the charging apes. It bought him some time as they fell, slipping, screaming and biting in the goo. “Gorak!” he shouted. “We’ve got trouble!!” Gorak didn’t question. He simply came charging out, and came face to face with the shrieking horde. Even though they were scrambling to get to their feet, they still managed to flail their clubs at the big barbarian, keeping him momentarily at bay…at least until he could bring his sword to bear and began cutting them down. Agnar, in the mean time, was at loose ends. Lyrissa was down, but still in the thick of things. He couldn’t reach her. There were a great deal of dead charau-ka around, but animating them would only gain him temporary cannon fodder. If he could only reach the lovely corpse of the girallon. He glanced into the room and saw Jack trying to dodge for his life the barrage of the snake-head sorcerer still clinging to the ceiling, where it was safely out of reach of the elementals. He had an idea. With a quick prayer, he tossed a simple dispelling charm at the serpentman, and just like that, the sorcerer lost his grip and plummeted to the floor. He climbed shakily to his feet, but by that time the elementals were upon him. One drove a fist into his gut, doubling him over, but the sorcerer was as fast as a snake. He recovered and darted to the side, then hissed a spell and unleashed a scorching bolt of lightning that instantly obliterated two of the elementals, ripped through Jack, and even managed to jolt Gorak standing outside the door. Gorak shook off the blast, his rage all-consuming. He hacked apart another charau-ka as the rest scrambled free of the grease and swarmed him, hammering with their clubs. Still, they were children facing a titan. The barbarian roared and laid about him with his sword, simultaneously lowering his head and goring with his horns. Blood dripping from him, both his own and that of his opponents, he put down the last of the ape-men, and then turned back towards the inner chamber. The elementals continued to pursue the sorcerer, landing occasional lucky blows. Then, he loosed another lightning bolt, and destroyed them all. Agnar chose that moment to dart into the room. While the sorcerer was distracted, he laid his hands upon the body of the girallon and channeled dark energy into it. With a roar, the great beast arose, lurching to its feet. The sorcerer realized too late what had happened. He turned and spread his hands, unleashing a cone of fire at the new zombie and Agnar. He saw Gorak stalk into the room, and turned his serpentine eyes upon the barbarian. “This fight is no longer yours,” he hissed. “Your companions are lost. Save yourself.” Gorak looked confused for a moment, and then he simply shrugged and walked away. Suddenly, the zombified girallon loomed up behind the sorcerer and wrapped its four arms around him, lifting him into the air. He struggled feebly to break free, but then Jack was there, thrusting both his blades through the sorcerer’s chest. His struggles ceased. Zavasta came shambling around the corner of the tier, dragging the body of the wasp behind him. “What’d I miss?” he grumbled. [/QUOTE]
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JollyDoc's Serpent's Skull-updated 11/6/2011
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