Medriev's FR Keep on the Shadowfell - Concluded Nov 7

[Medriev]

Chapter 11 - Restless Guardians (Part 3)

Lavren felt real fear well up within him as the zombie drove him back into the western tunnel. He loosed more crackling black energy from his wand and felt momentary relief as the bolt struck the shambling undead creature but the zombie was unfazed and kept coming at him. He ducked under the next clumsy swing and retreated further from the rotting creature. He was alone in the darkness now, the light of Thira’s staff a distant beacon in the chamber from which he had been driven. His only hope lay in defeating his relentless foe and returning to his companions. Once again, he hoped that no other horrors lurked behind him. He saw flashing lights, crimson, mauve and the deep red of flame burst in the chamber and hoped his companions fared well in their terrible battle there. Lavren lowered his wand again and loosed more crackling black energy that struck the zombie in the chest but still it came on. The elf felt, rather than saw the passage widen into a chamber at his back and thanked his fey patrons for this boon. He could dodge the zombie and evade its blows far better in a bigger space and felt hope returning. He retreated again, stepping into the passageway’s mouth at the edge of the room and the zombie followed him. He took another step back and the floor gave way beneath him, wooden planks, painted to resemble stone swung away and revealed the pit that filled the room behind the elf. He swayed, regained his balance and shoved his wand into his belt. With a grim sense of resignation, he drew his sword.

Dulvarna dived forwards, leading with her blade but the robed creature leapt back into the western corridor unexpectedly quickly. A zombie wheeled around as it sensed her and brought two clubbed fists of rotting flesh down on the back of her neck. She staggered and saw blinding light before her eyes before trying desperately to stand back up. She rose briefly, long enough to see the robed figure chanting again and extending its hand towards her. The mauve and crimson lightning struck her a moment later and brought searing pain as it lanced over her torso and then there was dizziness as blackness as she collapsed to the floor of the crypt.

Thira glanced to her right as Dulvarna fell and was met with a zombie fist that sent her reeling back towards the wall. One of the robed creatures loosed a mauve bolt of lightning that struck Enlishia and sent her twisting painfully into the stone bier behind her. She pushed herself to her feet but was dazed and dizzy as she tried to raise her bow. To Enlishia’s right, Erlmoor stepped back as a zombie struck his shoulder and between them, a bolt of mauve lightning struck the wall of the crypt. Thira unleashed flame from her staff then that filled half of the crypt and a screech from one of the robed creatures greeted it. A zombie reeled towards the tiefling and struck her on the side of the head with a flailing fist, sending her reeling against the wall again. She saw a flash of light from the left and ducked left behind the bier as a bolt of mauve lightning struck the wall where she had been standing. Thira cursed under her breath and surveyed the chamber, desperately seeking a way to turn the tide of the battle. Another bolt of lightning struck the wall above her head and she cursed again. The guardians of the fiendish foot protected it well which meant it must truly be powerful. With a roar she rose from behind the bier and struck out with her stave, crushing the skull of a zombie. It dropped to the floor next to Dulvarna and with a wild grin on her face, Thira turned on the other zombie.

Erlmoor roared his own anger in response to Thira’s cry and plunged his blade into the belly of the zombie before him. He slashed the blade back hand across the throat of the creature and stepped over its body as it fell. He strode into the chamber at last, his way finally clear and saw the robed creatures across from him. His battle rage fully upon him now and made stronger by the sight of more undead abominations, he roared again and this time he spewed acid from his mouth that drew more screeches from the robed creatures and sprayed down the western corridor into which Lavren had disappeared. He looked back over his shoulder and saw Kel kneel beside Dulvarna. He wanted to stop the drow and heal the fallen warrior woman himself but he knew he could not and so instead he cursed under his breath before turning back to his cowed enemies.

Dulvarna rose unsteadily and nodded her thanks to the drow who had healed her. She turned towards the nearest of the robed undead and charged at the creature. Her blade slashed across its rotten chest, drawing forth dust and black blood but hardly even halting the creature. The other robed creature retreated before Erlmoor into the darkness of the south western passage and then unleashed another bolt of mauve lightning. It struck the dragonborn in the chest and sent him reeling around and down to his knees. Enlishia fired an arrow across the front of the dragonborn towards the other robed undead but it clattered instead against the stone above the monster’s head. Enlishia cursed silently and took aim with another arrow.

Lavren looked back over his shoulder to the drop behind him and desperately swung his blade out before him to keep his enemy at bay. Searching for some way out of his predicament he decided on something suitably daring and drew the zombie towards him by relaxing his guard a little. He stepped back to the edge of the pit trap and then twisted aside as the zombie came on at him. He slashed his blade down across the back of the neck of the undead creature and as it pitched forward, he brought its down with two hands as though it were a dagger, plunging it into the creature’s spine. The zombie pitched forward and fell into the pit. The elf smiled for the first time since the battle had begun and uttered a phrase in elven as he glanced down towards the enemy he had cursed. A cloud of white mist rose from the floor and again he felt the compression of his body. He concentrated on the other end of the passage and in a heartbeat, he stood there, blade in hand and one of the robed undead before him battling Dulvarna.

The creature slashed its claws at the warrior woman who ducked and then countered with her blade. Kel moved to join the battle and the undead creature turned its glowing eyes upon her for a moment. Dulvarna plunged her blade into the creature’s belly. It shrieked again and more black blood issued forth Lavren cursed the creature in elven then before plunging his blade into the creature’s back. It screeched again and then slumped to the floor, a lifeless corpse at last. Lavren uttered a phrase in elven once again, more mist rose and moments later he stood beside Erlmoor, in the crypt again finally.

Thira rushed down the southern passage, frantically seeking a way to outflank her enemies but she had gone barely twenty feet when the floor gave way beneath her leading foot and she toppled forward. Arms flailing, and the light form her staff casting jumping shadows on the wall of the chamber, she stopped herself from falling into the pit trap and cursed under her breath.
“No way through there,” she muttered and turned back to the main chamber.

She emerged into the chamber to find the her companions fighting only one of the robed creatures but it had retreated down the south-western hallway that seemed to be the only way forward. Thira desperately sought a way to bring her staff and the spells that she could hurl from it to bear but Enlishia fought the creature now and blocked the tiefling’s view. She moved into the crypt anyway and awaited a chance to strike at the undead creature.

Beside Thira, Erlmoor was praying as he laid a hand on Lavren’s shoulder. Bright radiance coursed down the dragonborn’s arm and infused the elf with new strength. Kel began to pray while resting a hand on Dulvarna’s arm and a dark blue glow flowed into the warrior woman, restoring her strength in turn. Dulvarna raised her blade and waited for the undead creature to come to her. She did not have long to wait for a moment later, Enlishia reeled out of the passage, bleeding from a wound in her arm and behind her came the rotting creature. Lavren lowered his wand and loosed black, crackling energy at the undead monster and Erlmoor raised his sword against his shoulder and brought forth the holy symbol that hung at his neck. Searing ribbons of radiant fire tore at the undead creature and it shrieked and shrank back as Erlmoor roared his triumph. Dulvarna charged at the creature then and slashed her blade into its shoulder splitting open rotten flesh and bone. It sank to its knees and she swept her blade out wide, taking its skeletal head from its shoulders. The headless corpse pitched forward at the woman’s feet and silence descended upon the chamber.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 11 - Restless Guardians (Part 4)

The south western passage led to another circular crypt, this one decorated with frescoes that showed nobles hunting the forest long ago. Only one way led on from this chamber, a dark passage leading north west that Dulvarna led them into cautiously with her blade held before her in both hands. The room at the end of the passage was rectangular and held a shattered and burned wooden coffin. A large swath of dried blood stained the floor near the south wall and a broken chest lay heaped to the north. No sooner had Thira’s staff illuminated the room than from the far side came ghostly shrieks as though more tormented souls had been disturbed. Dulvarna raised her blade and from the shadows came two warriors in ghostly armour and with the translucent forms of Cormyrian soldiers that glowed faintly as they rose from their rest.

One came at Erlmoor and slashed its cold, insubstantial blade across the dragonborn’s shoulder. He felt a chilling, searing pain as though the iron had frozen his flesh and recoiled from the blow as more screeches from the north and the south answered the first two undead spirits. Another creature burst from a southern passage beside Erlmoor and the dragonborn leapt back to evade its ghostly blade. Another of the ghost-like forms rushed at Dulvarna and she ducked back as its blade slashed towards her throat.

In the corridor behind, Lavren concentrated for a moment and then vanished in a show of radiant white motes. He reappeared in the shadowy far corner of the chamber and began to curse the nearest ghost in elven. He raised his wand and loosed crackling black energy across the chamber but at the last, the ghost moved aside and the blast struck only stone.

Dulvarna ducked to her right to evade a sword thrust and slashed her own blade at the ghost she faced. Her blade slashed into its leg but barely met any resistance and the ghostly warrior merely laughed as he looked down at the impudent blade. Dulvarna felt rather than heard a creature behind her then and turned at the last moment just as skeletal claws slashed at her from behind. There stood a white haired creature of decay and death in tattered purple robes with a black medallion of a hoof around its neck. Dulvarna slashed at it to keep it at bay but it retreated for only a moment before coming at her again.

Behind her, Kel began chanting while holding forth the amulet she wore about her neck. Searing black bolts shot forth from the symbol and struck the ghostly warriors, drawing a shriek from one and driving it back to the far wall of the chamber. Thira pushed past the drow, lowered her staff and loosed flame at the ghosts, drawing more tormented shrieks from them and forcing them away from her. Erlmoor roared and breathed acid on the ghosts and as they drew back from his fury, he set about them with his sword. A chilling sword blow struck the dragonborn then and he withdrew as blood flowed from his forearm. The ghostly warriors seemed to exult in his pain then and as he stepped back, all four ghosts surged forward.

Kel cried out suddenly as she felt the icy chill of a spirit blade plunge into her hip from behind. She turned and saw that another ghost had appeared out of the wall of the passage just behind her and was now grinning maniacally as it faced the apparently helpless drow. Kel prayed loudly and slashed out with her morning star but as the tip burst into searing flame, the ghost leapt backwards and evaded the blow.

In the chamber, the warrior that the drow had driven away recovered its strength enough to rush across the chamber at Lavren and drive the point of its sword into the elf’s left shoulder. He fell back and cried out while reaching for his own blade. He slashed out wildly and penetrated the ghost’s body but barely seemed to hurt it. Nevertheless, the attack bought him some time and kept his enemy from him for a few more heartbeats. Thira came to his aid a moment later, slashing out with her staff and keeping the ghost at bay still longer. The elf nodded his thanks to the tiefling and for a moment they shared a glance as each wondered whether they could escape this dark tomb of a dungeon.

To Thira’s left, Dulvarna retreated into a passage leading east and drew the undead newcomer with her. She lashed out with her blade and cut deep into the undead creature’s side, tearing through rotten flesh, bone and dust until her blade struck its spine. The creature shrieked angrily and came at her even more fiercely. Dulvarna brought her blade back across to the left and then the right to keep the undead creature’s flailing claws at bay. An arrow from Enlishia’s bow drove into the other side of the undead creature then and it shrieked again as it was spun aside into the passage which it had emerged from. It started forward again and another arrow drove into its chest, forcing it back again.

Erlmoor roared in pain as another of the chill blades drove into his shoulder and he staggered, all but falling to one knee. Behind him, Kel cried out as she was struck again by her ghostly attacker and for a moment, the dragonborn felt a pang of guilt for the harsh way he had treated the drow since the death of the elves. He knew the pain she was feeling and knew it was hard enough for him to bear. For a weaker race such as a drow, it must be beyond imagining. He heard the drow chanting then and then, as her prayer ended, he saw a tendril of dark power reach out to touch his armour. The drow had bestowed some protection upon him and Erlmoor felt confused as he wondered how he felt about this aid.

Across the chamber, Lavren felt the chill of the spirit blades himself as his own foe nicked his cheek with his sword. He slashed his own riposte from the right but the ghost leapt back out of the way. Suddenly, the ghost began to shriek and Lavren watched it, confused, as it took a step back from him. Then it raised its sword in a last silent salute to its enemies. The elf looked around and saw that all four were doing the same and slowly, the looks of anger and torment slipped from the faces of the ghosts. With calm serenity, the ghosts, as one, vanished upward into the ceiling and were gone from the tomb. Only then did the companions look around for their savior and saw that Dulvarna had driven her sword through the heart of the other undead creature. Glorious relief and the exhaustion of victory overtook them all then and slowly, they turned from the crypt and left the chamber. Behind the others, Kel circled into the chamber to look around and as they left, unseen by the others, she stooped and took the medallion from around the neck of the undead creature.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 12 - Revelations and Reckonings (Part 1)

“Come in,” said the wizard with an impatient wave as the cold winter wind made the candles inside the ground floor room flicker wildly. On the desk underneath the far window a parchment lifted and the wizard glanced towards it nervously.

Dulvarna led the six companions into the round ground floor room which was a mess of parchments and tomes scattered around on side tables, shelves and the desk beneath the window. Valthrun hurriedly closed the door against the cold wind and ushered the adventurers inside with both hands. Erlmoor looked around for somewhere to sit but there were no chairs beyond the carved oak chair next to the desk. The candles flickered again as the door closed and then the room stabilised into shadowy darkness.
“You have heard of the goblin raids that now plague the East Way since first you ventured to the Keep?” said Valthrun without preamble. He moved past and pushed through the gathered group until he could reach his seat at the desk. He sat down and turned to face them.

“We have been in the Hullack Forest since Midwinter,” answered Kel. “Though we have heard rumours at the inn.”
“The rumours are true, dark elf,” answered Valthrun and at this, Kel started. She had not gone without her cowl anywhere in Winterhaven and so none beyond her five companions could know her race. “But that is of little matter. The Keep grows restless, and now that I have unearthed the truth about its past it is unsurprising. Shadowfell Keep, as folks call it now, was not always known by that name. It seems that this name arose only in the past century from people’s fear of the plane through which the dead travel. Not so long ago, yet beyond the memory of most, the keep was known as Keegan’s Keep.” The wizard paused and looked around at the companions as though to ensure that all were listening.

“Stories tell of how the lord of Keegan’s Keep, Sir Jerold Keegan,” he continued, “became a crazed lunatic and slew his family and friends, forever cursing the place. However, the truth of the story is much more tragic. Sir Keegan was a renowned hunter of dragons. Thus, when the great wyrm, Shadraxil, a shadow dragon of particularly ill temperament, began to plague Cormyr, it fell to Keegan to come up with a way to defeat the beast. The knight lured the beast to the keep, and there, he managed with sword and sorcery to occupy the creature long enough to perform a ritual to trap it away in a place of shadow. That would have been the end of the story were it not for the power of Shadraxil.”
“We have heard of Shadraxil before,” said Kel, turning to the others. “The burial site in the vale to the south was supposed to be his.”
“It was,” rumbled Erlmoor, still guarded around the dark elf but finding himself warming to her efforts to fit in with the group.

“Incensed by his defeat,” Valthrun continued, casting a withering gaze at both dragonborn and drow for the interruption, “the wyrm poured all of his malice into revenge against the knight who trapped him. Such was the dragon’s power that even from beyond the Shadow Rift, he was able to deceive Keegan into believing his friends and family were conspiring against him. Eventually, the knight’s mind snapped. The author of the historical treatises speculates that he suffered paranoid delusions, for Keegan went on a rampage through the keep, killing his wife and comrades before eventually a grievous wound drove him to flee into the keep’s crypts. It’s not known what happened to him after that. Cormyr’s leaders, fearing that Shadraxil might continue to wreak havoc upon those stationed at the keep, ordered the place destroyed and its secrets hidden. They slew a juvenile shadow dragon and created a false burial site, all in an effort to conceal the truth—that Shadraxil still lives, waiting just beyond the rift for an opportunity to have vengeance upon those who did him wrong so very long ago. Whatever activity is occurring at the keep, it can surely mean ill for Winterhaven and those of nearby lands. Please, will you do what you can to help?”

“We shall,” answered Dulvarna at once. “You can be assured of that. We must return to the Keep as soon as we can.”
“Tomorrow would seem best,” said Lavren.
“Agreed,” answered Kel.
“Tomorrow it is then,” said Erlmoor with an awkward look towards Kel.
“We are indebted to you for this,” Kel said then to the wizard.

Valthrun acknowledged her gratitude with a nod and then looked pointedly towards the door. Not wishing to outstay their welcome, the companions filed out of the door, Kel in the lead.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 12 - Revelations and Reckonings (Part 2)

Kalarel stalked around the table where the goblin and the elf woman sat nervously. He marked each step with a thump of the skull capped rod he carried on the stone floor and knew that each blow emphasized his anger. The elf noted each thud with a nervous twitch while the goblin paid them little mind. Balgron the Fat was more used to brutal leadership than the fragile elven adventurer who might once have been Kalarel’s enemy.
“They must not reach the lower levels,” said the priest at last. “The ritual is not yet complete. They cannot be allowed anywhere near me.”

Kalarel surveyed the table and was comforted by the fact that his two servants had their eyes down, gazing at the wooden top of the piece of furniture. If he had betrayed any of his fear in his expressions they had not seen it and his voice, as always, betrayed nothing. The elf looked up warily then and met Kalarel’s gaze.
“Then surely there was no need to bring me here,” said Ninaran in a weak, almost pleading, voice. “My place is back in Winterhaven watching our enemies. The adventurers returned yesterday from their journey and may already be plotting their return here.”
“I am sure they are,” said Kalarel. “And forgive me, Ninaran, if I presume to decide what your place is. You are to wait until they venture forth once more and then bar their return to the town. You know what needs to be done.”

Ninaran nodded, defeated , and the goblin smiled, a lop-sided, gap-filled smile. Balgron the Fat thought for a moment that he had escaped any role in the plan and that the losses he had already suffered in the excavation chamber were all that his warband would lose. Then his brain caught up with what Kalarel had just said about the adventurers venturing forth. He looked up and met the priest’s gaze as the dark haired, long-nosed man watched and waited while the goblin’s mind went through its inevitably slow thought processes. Balgron’s smile vanished as quickly as it appeared as the goblin’s deep set, pig-like eyes met the stern gaze of the priest.
“When they come,” Kalarel said slowly. “You are to kill them all.”

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 12 - Revelations and Reckonings (Part 3)

“If you have already travelled to the east then we should go that way again,” said Thira as she surveyed the pit trap at the centre of the entrance chamber by the light of her staff. “Part of the way is explored and known to us.”

“And defeated,” put in Kel. “The southern passage may offer a way to the deeper threats that lurk in this dark place.” Unconsciously she touched the hoof symbol about her neck and sudden images of shambling undead much as they had fought in the Ashen Tower leapt unbidden to her mind. They had haunted her dreams since then and the dark elf was wondering now whether just the fierce battles of her first adventure were to blame for the visions.
“There are doors off the goblin guard room to the south,” said Dulvarna then. “They lead into the unknown as surely as the western way does. We will retrace our steps to the place where….” She paused, not wanting to recall to the others the deaths of Brother Gevarn and Mandratan. “Where last we faught.” She finished finally and started off towards the eastern passage, drawing her sword from her back as she went.

When they reached the cavern where Gevarn had fallen they faced another choice as double doors led out of the maze to the west and a passage led away into the darkness to the south. Dulvarna led them to the western doors, reasoning that they should explore the dungeons one place at a time. All six paused at the doors, though, for the bronze double doors were green with age and stained blue and purple with a thick layer of fungus. Scratched into the fungus in rough Thorass runes was the message Stay Out. Really.
“Something is hidden within,” said Lavren. “Ignore it.”

The others merely shrugged and so Dulvarna pushed open the doors. Within, fungus-coated stairs led down into a natural cavern. Much of the chamber was filled with a stagnant pool of brackish water. A patch of land rose from the foul water at the pool’s centre and on this small island, bones, spilled coins, and other small objects could be seen amongst the carpet of fungus. Dulvarna started down the steps and then stopped, holding out her arm to halt the others. She had seen ripples stir the calm water as if something moved beneath its surface.
“I saw it too,” whispered Kel. “Something lurks in the water.”

Lavren pushed past Dulvarna and rushed down the steps, cursing the dark mass of the creature that he could now see as well as the others. He turned left along the shore of the pool and leveled his wand at the water. Black, crackling energy lanced out and seared into the water with a hiss of steam. The creature, whatever it was, seemed to recoil and so Enlishia darted forward, her bow already in hand and an arrow nocked to the string. She loosed the arrow as she moved along the shore of the pool but it clattered against the far wall of the cavern.

The dank water then disgorged a blob of blue slime. The amorphous mass poured forward, extruding long pseudopods that ended in appendages of dripping goo. The slime creature surged to the edge of the pool and exuded a foul, overpowering musty, wet stench that assailed the senses of all the companions, even Kel, Erlmoor and Thira who were still beyond the doors. Lavren staggered and retched, as did Dulvarna on the steps and Kel beyond the door. The others held their breaths and pushed themselves past the nausea that they felt.

Kel pushed herself away from the wall of the outer cavern, reminding herself that her people, and her House were stronger than this. She started into the room and unsteadily made her way down the stairs to face this new enemy. As she reached the bottom of the steps, she stood upright and held her morning star before her. The nausea was banished to the pit of her stomach and silently, she thanked her goddess for giving her the strength to shake off the effect. Dulvarna moved past the dark elf, fighting her own battle until she too stood upright with her blade held ready as she neared the blue slime creature. Thira moved to the shore of the pool alongside both and levelled her staff. She uttered a phrase and flame burst from her stave to engulf the slime creature. With a roar, Erlmoor came last down the steps, his sword slashing at the creature and his acid breath bursting from his mouth. The slime creature shrank back for a moment but then came forward again with fierce speed.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 12 - Revelations and Reckonings (Part 4)

Lavren moved further along the edge of the pool and loosed more crackling black energy towards the slime creature while eying the treasures visible on the island. He could get there without getting wet by using his innate magic to teleport there but he could not then get back. Still, it would be an ideal place from which to strike at the slime creature, providing it did not turn on him. Enlishia moved towards him along the pool edge and looked towards the island herself. She glanced at Lavren then and knew his intention. Almost imperceptibly, she shook her head, her eyes full of stern warning. Lavren winked at her and then watched with horror as a slimy blue tentacle slammed into the side of the ranger. She was sent reeling and then struck again by another pseudopod as she recovered. Her side and her shoulder seared painfully as acid ate into her flesh. Enlishia staggered and cried out.
Kel heard Enlishia cry out as she reached the bottom of the stairs and squeezed between Thira and Dulvarna. She reached out her hand and with an act of will limned the slime creature in purple light so that the others could more easily hit it. Dulvarna nodded her thanks and slashed at the creature while Erlmoor paid the purple halo no mind as he surged forward. Thira loosed a silvery bolt from her staff that struck the slime creature forcing it to recoil but still it showed no signs of slowing.

Lavren took a step towards the island and with what felt like a rush of air, he appeared on the island in the centre of the pool. He glanced down at the treasures at his feet and quickly noted a fair scattering of silver coins, less gold coins, a vial and a shield, half-buried in the fungus mulch of the island. He turned towards the slime creature then and with a wave of his wand and a gesture of his free hand, he called forth a fire within the monster that seared it from the inside. He wondered whether now it would turn towards him but the creature was primal and would finish the prey before it first. Lavren saw Enlishia waver then and wished that she had not been distracted by his intention to magically leap to the island. The ranger’s face went pale and he could see that the left side of her deerskin jerkin was black with blood in the dim light. She stumbled and then fell, her bow clattering to the floor beside her.

The creature moved left then and lashed a pseudopod out to strike Kel in the chest, smashing her back against the wall. Another swept her legs from under her and dragged her from her feet. The dark elf cried out as the acid burned into her and then slumped back against the wall as the darkness beckoned to her. For the second time since coming into the chamber, the drow summoned her inner strength and forced her eyes open. She made to stand but found that her legs would not support her as the acid seared through them. Kel slumped back against the wall and reached up to grasp the amulets at her neck. Her goddess would save her, she decided and with that thought in her mind she made herself try to stand again.

Thira looked down at the drow for a moment and contemplated aiding her but then she remembered the amulet that she knew Kel wore. Let the Fiendish Foot protect its wearer, Thira thought. And if Kel was too weak to serve it….. Thira smiled and loosed another silver bolt at the slime creature, wondering for the first time whether anyone would be strong enough to stand against this terrible creature.

Lavren loosed more black energy from the island but this time his aim was awry and his blast flew wide of the slime creature. He cursed and looked desperately to Enlishia who was surely dying if she was not already dead. The creature shifted in the water then and, without appearing to turn, it lashed out a tentacle of slime at the elf. It struck Lavren in the chest and set him sprawling back to the far edge of the small island. The acid seared into his chest and he smelled the pungent odour of his own disintegrating flesh. Another tendril lashed out and seized his leg around the angle, dragging him back to where he had first been struck before letting go. He felt more searing pain in his ankle and coughed up blood as the acid started to burn into his lungs. Just then, his hand touched the vial that he had seen earlier and a desperate plan hatched in his mind.

Across the cavern, Kel fell back against the wall as the searing agony became too much for her and as she did so she felt nausea and dizziness assail her along with the pain. The blackness closed over her and she shut her eyes, wondering briefly whether she would ever open them again. Then, merciful darkness, the darkness of her Underdark home, close over her. She hoped that her goddess, Lolth the Queen of Spiders, would forgive her failure.
Dulvarna darted left and right, slashing her blade at the slime creature wherever she could. She cut at one pseudopod that came from her right and then plunged her blade into the creature. It recoiled but showed no sign of any real damage. Another silver bolt from Thira’s staff struck the monster then and then another straight afterwards but still the creature remained unvanquished. To her left, Dulvarna saw Erlmoor plunge his own blade into the creature and then kneel beside Enlishia. The dragonborn uttered a prayer and laid his hand on the shoulder of the fallen ranger. White light flowed from his hand into the woman and miraculously, Enlishia’s eyes opened.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 12 - Revelations and Reckonings (Part 5)

Lavren closed his hand over the neck of the vial and made to lift it out of the mulch but as he did so, another coughing fit overtook him and he fell back as dizziness assailed him. He tried to pull on the vial but his arms had lost all their strength and as he struggled to rise, he coughed and more blood came out of his mouth onto the ground beside him. Another wave of nausea and dizziness overcame him then and a black veil descended in front of his eyes. Before all thought left him, Lavren wondered what it would be like to be consumed by a creature of slime.

Enlishia pushed her self to her feet and cursed as the acid wound in her shoulder burned with searing needles of pain. She nodded her thanks to Erlmoor and pulled a strip of cloth from her belt pouch while shouldering her bow again. She made her way along the shore of the pool to the southern wall of the room and then leaned back against the wall to bind the wound. She could not fire her bow with a wounded shoulder. Only as she looked up then did she notice the pseudopod lashing out towards her. The tentacle struck her in the chest and hurled her back against the wall of the chamber. Light exploded in the ranger’s head as she struck the wall and then blackness took her for the second time.

Dulvarna stabbed at the slime creature again, plunging her blade into it, up to the hilt. Again the creature recoiled and this time, Thira struck it with a silver bolt before it could recover. Erlmoor came at it with his blade from the other side, challenging and taunting the creature as he came. Together, the three who still faught pressed the creature back and it for a few heartbeats it did not try to recover. Finally, with a ferocity unseen before, the creature surged at Dulvarna and struck her with two pseudopods in the chest, driving her back against the wall. Dulvarna felt the acid burn into her flesh and knew that her lungs were filling with blood. She slid down the wall and collapsed at its base as blackness took her.

Thira surveyed the scene of carnage in the pool chamber and knew what she had to do. Her companions were beyond all hope and would likely become food for the creature now, as she would if she stayed. She loosed one last silver bolt from her staff and then turned and fled up the stairs.
Erlmoor glanced over at the sudden movement and saw Thira desert him. He cursed her silently and knew then that he would die in this grim cavern beside his friends. He retreated along the ledge towards Enlishia and held his sword in one hand as he grasped Lathander’s symbol with the other. He prayed fervently then for the Moninglord’s aid and then extended the hand that had held his holy symbol. Searing ribbons of light lanced out from his hand then and struck the slime creature, tearing through its amorphous body. It lashed out wildly at him with a tentacle and he ducked under it, stepping towards the creature. As he did so it was struck by a silver bolt hurled from the doorway at the top of the steps and Erlmoor realised then that Thira had not fled. He plunged his blade into the creature to the hilt and it burst apart in a shower of acid.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 13 - Chauntea's Blessing (Part 1)

Erlmoor surveyed the battlefield as Thira made her way slowly back down the stairs and knelt beside Kel. He knew that it would make sense for him to heal the drow first so that she may help him in tending to the others but he could not bring himself to do it. Her presence had caused the quarrel outside the Ashen Tower that had led to the death of Micor and Ilar, the elven brothers who had gone with them to the ruins. How many more would die because a drow, and one that seemingly served Lolth, the Demoness Queen of the Spiders, travelled with them. Though he derided himself for the thought, Erlmoor momentarily hoped that the choice would not be presented to him.
“She lives,” Thira said, removing the possibility.

Erlmoor made his way over to the priestess and hastily prayed to Lathander while grasping the drow’s shoulder hard. Kel’s eyes flicked open and met the dragonborn’s. She looked to his hand on her shoulder, his firm grip and the claws on his hand hurting her.
“Are you trying to heal me, paladin?” she said softly. “Or make sure I’m dead?” Erlmoor jerked his hand away and rose to his feet, turning away from the drow.
“They need your help,” he said, gesturing around the chamber at his fallen friends.

He knelt beside Dulvarna and began to pray again while Kel rose to her feet and began her own prayer where she stood. Pale blue light washed over Lavren and the elf slowly sat up while Kel prayed again and the same light touched Enlishia and engulfed her. Kel looked over at Lavren as the elf began to gather up the gold into a sack he carried at his belt and then she turned back to Enlishia. The ranger’s eyes remained closed. Kel let out a strangled gasp and Erlmoor looked up from where he knelt.
“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently but Kel could only point.

Erlmoor looked over at the ranger, as did Dulvarna who had been woken by the paladin’s healing prayer. Enlishia was propped in a sitting position against the wall he body scarred by acid and blood staining the stone behind her head. Erlmoor rose and started towards the ranger but stopped halfway towards the woman and sank to his knees. A bestial roar of rage filled the chamber as the others looked on helplessly. Slowly the truth dawned for them all and even Lavren, preoccupied with his treasure gathering on the island, stopped and turned to regard the fallen ranger and her dragonborn friend. Enlishia was dead. Erlmoor could not save her.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 13 - Chauntea's Blessing (Part 2)

Ninaran watched as the five companions passed solemnly through the gates of Winterhaven and wondered whether Kalarel would forgive her for not having put their plan in motion to bar their safe return. Her servants were proving particularly troublesome to organise and everything had to be perfect for this group. Then again, Ninaran mused, perhaps her efforts would not be needed for they carried one of their number on a pallet, slain in the Keep presumably. Perhaps Kalarel’s minions in the Keep had all in hand after all. The elf looked back into the warm, red glow of the common room and wondered whether she could stay for another goblet of wine. Salvana Wrafton had outdone herself this winter with the stocks of elven wines she had imported from Highmoon. It made the winter evenings more pleasant for the elf. Ninaran dismissed such thoughts immediately. She had to remain focused on Kalarel’s plan. She had not been ready for the adventurers this time but next time they ventured to the Keep, and surely if one amongst them had fallen they would venture back to seek revenge, she would be ready for them.

Carefully, the elf maid picked up her bow and shouldered it and then drew her fur trimmed travelling cloak tight about her neck. She made her way to the gates through which the five companions had just returned with their fallen friend. As she passed through, one of the guards called out to her.
“Out hunting again Ninaran,” called the man at arms.
“Something like that,” Ninaran called back. “I’ll see what I can find.”

With a smile to herself, Ninaran turned off the rode and headed down a well-used path towards a grove of trees beyond which her goal lay. She was still smiling as the darkness beneath the trees engulfed her and hid her from view from the gates.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 13 - Chauntea's Blessing (Part 3)

“Can you aid her?” Dulvarna asked as she laid Enlishia’s body before the altar of Sister Linora’s small temple. The others for the most part looked askance at the warrior woman but Kel looked over at Dulvarna thoughtfully. She wondered if anyone would ask the same question if she had fallen.

“It is a complicated ritual,” answered Linora. “And I have never performed it before.”
“But you do know how to do it?” Kel pressed. She had not yet studied the complex ritual required to return the dead to life, though she had seen it done.
“Yes, I know how to do it,” answered Sister Linora. “but I do not have the salves required. They are costly besides and cannot be bought in Winterhaven before the spring trade returns.”
“Then where could we buy them?” rumbled Erlmoor, his voice sounding strained.
“You would have to go to Arabel,” Linora answered. “but the cost…”
“How much would it cost?” Thira asked and then faced down Dulvarna and Erlmoor as they turned disapproving eyes upon her.
“We must know,” she continued. “I for one have little gold despite our successes and can ill afford to assist in this enterprise.”
“Five hundred gold,” said Linora then. “I warned you that such things are costly.”
“I will pay what I can,” said Kel then and Dulvarna looked around again, this time at the dark elf. Erlmoor raised his head and grunted.
“I have precious little to spare,” said Lavren. “Else I would assist.”

The elf turned away then, unable to look at the fallen ranger. He blamed himself for her death for if she had not looked towards him as he teleported over to the island then the slime creature may not have struck her. Nevertheless, he needed the gold he had if he was to survive the trials that no doubt lay ahead. They could not defeat the Keep with empty bellies and dressed in rags, he assured himself. He felt Thira’s arm link with his then and together they walked away down the aisle of the temple.

“You are not alone in this, friend elf,” she whispered softly. “Like as not they would not have the same debate if you or I had fallen. We would already be in the ground beside Mandratan and the others.” They reached the door then and Lavren allowed himself to be led out of the temple into the cold and rapidly darkening night.
“We will have enough,” said Erlmoor sternly. “Enlishia herself had some gold which we can use. And like as not the shield we found is worth something.”
“Then I will write you a letter,” answered Linora. “Enlishia will see the light of day again as soon as you return.” The three companions regarded the priestess with curiosity for a moment and then decided better than to argue with her. The matter was decided.