Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6213122" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>Still grumbling and irritated, Longhelim and Victor returned back into the tunnels and we started again. The path was familiar as we passed the same junctions and moved down the same tunnels; except that Drudge swore that the markings were on different tunnels this time.</p><p> </p><p>I wasn’t sure just what the Taranesti had done but the magic that they must have used to hide their city was puzzling and extraordinary; usually, there were several very powerful spells which would find the way to a location, no matter how well hidden but these were known spells and the Shahalesti must have tried them over the years; yet, here, we could see why Phorros Irrendra had stayed hidden for so many years. The directions had changed as soon as we tried them again; it was fascinating and as I was walking, I tried to theorise as to how it could be done. Just as I was tying together the threads of an idea, John suddenly said:</p><p> </p><p>“Stop!”</p><p> </p><p>Then he took out a wand and pointed it at Drudge.</p><p> </p><p>“There! Now here’s hoping that you’ll like me more than pretty drow ladies you meet at the bottom of caves in the middle of a haunted forest!”</p><p> </p><p>With that, John grinned at the ranger and bounced on.</p><p> </p><p>Drudge sidled up to me and asked:</p><p> </p><p>“What was that all about?”</p><p> </p><p>“He cast a spell on you which makes you his very good friend; and I mean a really, really good friend.”</p><p> </p><p>“But I’m already very good friends with him.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, but he’s speculating that if you’re magically very good friends with him, that will counter any other spells of that type that could be cast on you; such as the one the succubi almost certainly cast on you previously. It’s a clever thought; he’s most likely correct. Trust me, my friend; no matter how wonderful she may have seemed, you would not want to have been kissed by her.”</p><p> </p><p>“Uh, thanks for that…..I think.”</p><p> </p><p>We carried on walking through the caverns; as previously, they were wide, dry and quite pleasant. They seemed to be remarkably free of any obstacles or places where we had to do any potential climbing. As previously, we were walking when a voice spoke out of darkness:</p><p> </p><p>“Finally, men not afraid to wield the power of the Burning Sky!”</p><p> </p><p>The voice was gravelly, deep and inhuman; it had a strange, menacingly hypnotic quality to it.</p><p> </p><p>We moved forward more cautiously when we saw that the path was broken by a small gap, where the river flowed into the cavern wall; beyond the gap, we could see a creature waiting for us; and what a creature! I recognized it immediately but only from descriptions and drawings from books; I had hoped never to meet one face to face myself.</p><p> </p><p>It was an enormous humanoid, as tall as a legendary giant and with matching muscles denoting great strength; it had four arms, two ending in pincers and the other pair were clawed; its head was that of a vicious dog in proportional size, as were its teeth; and at the moment, it was beckoning us with one of its pincers.</p><p> </p><p>“Come! Come closer so I can see you!”</p><p> </p><p>It was a glabrezu, an evil outsider from the pits of the Abyss. Supposedly, they were powerful spell casters as well as highly resistant to weapons unless they had been anointed by prayers from the forces of good; and finally, with four arms and powerful jaws, they were formidable combatants; just about the last being I wanted to meet down here.</p><p> </p><p>I began to shout this out to the others, much to the amusement of the glabrezu who began to laugh as he rumbled:</p><p> </p><p>“Very good, little dwarf, very good. You know my kind well! Have we met before?”</p><p> </p><p>However, his laughter stopped as Drudge let loose a barrage of arrows at it, which must have caused some damage, despite the glabrezu’s unholy protections; in retaliation, the creature fixed a baleful stare on his aggressor and literally barked at him which affected the ranger disastrously as his eyes suddenly turned upwards, the balls showing pure white in their sockets and rendered motionless, his bow now on the floor next to him; the bark was a word of power; however, this gave the rest of us time to react; I cast a spell on Victor which allowed him to fly; and Longhelim cast a spell on the warrior’s sword, blessing it with the power of Heironeous; the former immediately flew at the glabrezu who watched him approach with glittering eyes and then lazily swiped with a claw; it hit but Victor ploughed on and struck the creature in return.</p><p> </p><p>As I have stated in the past, when Victor strikes someone, it is often quite spectacular and the demon’s eyes widened as the warrior’s falchion bit deeply into his torso. The glabrezu had not been expecting to feel that and even he quickly realised that there was a real opponent facing him.</p><p> </p><p>It was at this point that the three succubi stepped out of the ethereal plane where they had been hiding and decided to attack us. They immediately engaged the rest of us in physical combat with only some success. Mostly, we recognized the relative dangers of the opponents and decided to ignore them.</p><p> </p><p>Felix quickly cast a flying spell on Longhelim who also flew at the glabrezu while the rest of us faced the three ladies. Thankfully, they may have had very powerful feminine wiles but they were not very good physical combatants; John did a spell of speed on the warriors, while I threw force missiles into the glabrezu; his unholy protections tried to stop them but I managed to force them through. The demon himself then cast another spell; I recognized it; it was the same spell that we had encountered in the strange elevator shaft in Castle Korstull; the one which made the victim act uncontrollably; thankfully, that experience seemed to add some sort of resistance to the group as no one seemed affected.</p><p> </p><p>At this point, I heard a bellow from the demon; Victor had just struck him three times in quick succession with such power and precision that even the gigantic outsider was shaken. He immediately reacted by casting a spell which created eight other shimmering images which whirled around him. It was a simple but annoying little spell and Longhelim immediately set about destroying as many of them as possible. He did get rid of several and then another barrage of arrows reduced the images even further; Drudge had recovered from the demon’s bark! Then Victor tried a new tactic as he seemed to slow slightly and then just at the right moment, he timed it the he actually struck the demon, causing yet another scream of outrage.</p><p> </p><p>Then Felix cast his own Word of Power, this one calling on his God; the glabrezu was unaffected but it had a devastating effect on the three succubi who all disappeared with a despairing wail.</p><p> </p><p>“Pah! Lightweights! Useless women!” barked the glabrezu and struck at Victor with his claws, pincers and jaws. The warrior was hurt but he returned the strike and again, Longhelim’s spell was making a great difference as the falchion bit deep; with a last amused rumble the glabrezu spoke:</p><p> </p><p>“I go home now from this place but seek the one you want in the fane of fallen hallows!”</p><p> </p><p>Victor was still in the same position when he struck the demon but then he recovered; slashed, wounded and bleeding, he looked into the darkness and quietly said to himself:</p><p> </p><p>“There seems to be an over abundance of demons on this place. I wonder if that’s why so many good outsiders have allied themselves to the Shahalesti.”</p><p> </p><p>Felix then went to him and began to look after his wounds.</p><p> </p><p>I was scratching my head; looking at Longhelim, I asked:</p><p> </p><p>“What’s a fane of fallen hallows?”</p><p> </p><p>Shaking his head, the paladin replied:</p><p> </p><p>“I have no idea. I don’t know what a fane is, nor a fallen hallow; but I am assuming it is a place, considering what the demon said.”</p><p> </p><p>Frowning, I wondered; considering the nature of demons, it could actually be anything; I hoped it was obvious when we saw it; demons lied; they lied a lot.</p><p> </p><p>Once everyone had been healed and patched up, we carried on down the corridor. I was getting a little tired of the travel down here but it could have been worse. The spell of light behind us was most helpful in alleviating the potential danger of the cave system, which was why I was so perturbed when our spell suddenly stopped working, leaving us in total darkness. My eyesight immediately adjusted and a moment later a flurry of dust, debris and wind was caused by a multitude of ghosts and phantoms who screamed as they flew towards us with fury and rage; I knew that we were magically protected from the wind and the screams but it was still disquieting.</p><p> </p><p>John cast a spell and another beacon of light lit up to reveal a creature of legends; a huge reptile, black as night, with eight legs and an enormous jaw with protruding teeth jutting out of it. Its lambent eyes glowed green as it stared at Victor!</p><p> </p><p>I recognized it immediately:</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a basilisk! Their gaze can petrify; and that’s the biggest one of all; from the Abyss! Don’t bother hitting it with cold or fire; they are very resistant to the elements!”</p><p> </p><p>The ghosts were still swirling around and moaning, making it impossible for Drudge to fire any of his arrows at it so I cast my spell of speed on everyone, allowing Longhelim and Victor to reach it quickly and engage. Even Drudge, drew his sword and moved to flank it, since he was unable to fire his arrows; both of the warriors managed to strike it but it was a tough opponent and it quickly bit Longhelim; it had a particularly nasty bite as it caused a dreadful rent and gash in the paladin’s armour and torso. I moved around and I cast my own spell; a black ray shot out of my hand and weakened it.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, that caused its attention to turn to me and……..</p><p> </p><p>When I came to, I was in front of a grotto of green. It was a mass of trees! The tunnel had gone! Wildly I looked around me to see that everyone was watching me with an air of expectancy and Felix had just finished reading a scroll.</p><p> </p><p>“What…what happened?” I croaked.</p><p> </p><p>John……of course it would be John, answered immediately:</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you made a lovely statue; all black and shiny.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim gave the rogue a look and then explained:</p><p> </p><p>“We managed to send that hellish monster back to whatever pit it came from but unfortunately, not before it turned you into a stone statue; as soon as the beast was killed the ghosts fled; Felix tried to bring you back but failed; that thing, basilisk I think you called it, was indeed a truly demonic opponent; we carried you along for a time and arrived here.”</p><p> </p><p>At this point, he motioned with his hands at the scene in front of me. There were cliffs around us, carved with sigils and symbols of ages past. There was also a set of stairs carved into the cliffs, zig-zagging along the stone. There were also two tiers, possibly walkways, carved into the cliffs. The whole thing was an extraordinary achievement. Just the fact that there was some sort of grotto full of trees in front of us……Looking upwards, I could also see that there were also several small tunnels leading into the cliff.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim continued:</p><p> </p><p>“Felix then remembered that he had a scroll that could possibly help you; that is what he has just used.”</p><p> </p><p>Still looking at the trees and greenery in front of me, I said:</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, Felix. Converting me back from a stone statue is most mighty magic indeed; and I am most grateful you have access to it. By the way, succubi, a glabrezu, an abyssal basilisk; presumably we’ve all noticed a pattern here?”</p><p> </p><p>John nodded:</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, someone here certainly has or had an expertise in demonology.”</p><p> </p><p>The priest also nodded and then we decided to ascend the stairs to see where they led. We had to be careful as the stairs hugged the wall; I kept getting distracted by the strange plants and shapes on the cliffs until the stairs finally finished on a platform overlooking the valley.</p><p> </p><p>This cliff revealed a stunning panorama of a valley full of magnificent trees and dwellings. However, there was no sign of people. The whole area looked utterly deserted. Oh, there were signs of the city being inhabited previously, but not now.</p><p> </p><p>Light was coming from above from some mysterious source and the cliffs behind us rose up to much greater heights. As we took in the sight, we began to make out one or two further details: a copse of much taller trees there; some sort of structure in that direction; a glint of a waterfall in the far distance; finally, we decided to turn into mist and overfly the whole area to give ourselves a better view.</p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, we were able to glide over the sky without any hindrance and we did make out several features in the valley; there was an open area with a series of stone sculptures; a strange tree with stone spikes jutting out of its trunk; by far the largest structure was a large tower on top of a tree, near another group of trees with leaves the colour of emeralds; towards the far end of the valley, there was indeed a waterfall falling down the cliff into a tunnel leading underground; there was also another structure near the roots of an enormous tree and finally, another structure or house on built safely within the embrace of another large tree; this also looked like a substantial house.</p><p> </p><p>Once we had returned to the cliff side, we became flesh again and I asked:</p><p> </p><p>“So, what is the best course of action now? I must confess, I have few spells left after our journey through the caves. I hope we would be able to rest now.”</p><p> </p><p>Felix added:</p><p> </p><p>“I’m in the same situation; very few spells left and the situation below is unknown. I would also advocate rest.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve got my little hut,” said John. “We can use that in combination with any other spells to make our camp as secure as possible.”</p><p> </p><p>“Combine it with my magical stone wall,” said Felix.</p><p> </p><p>I watched with interest as a low shelter was set against the cliff face and then John conjured his cottage around it. It really was quite effective.</p><p> </p><p>After this had been constructed, we settled down for the day, resting and recuperating. Drudge was keeping a watch on the city below but there was no movement. I joined him for some time and also watched; then I let out a short laugh. The ranger looked at me inquisitively:</p><p> </p><p>“There’s no one below, is there? Leska has sent a whole army looking for this place, Shalaadel has committed numerous atrocities trying to force anyone to reveal its location and for what?</p><p>This isn’t the last refuge of the Taranesti; I think they’re actually far sneakier than that. They have another refuge somewhere but they leaked the secret of this one so that the Shahalesti and the Ragesians spend so many resources looking for it, they don’t even realise there is another. I wonder where the real one is?”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim had come up behind us, staring at the panorama below:</p><p> </p><p>“That’s an interesting theory, Faden; do you have any proof with which you can back it up?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, apart from the fact that this so-called last refuge of the Taranesti is completely empty, no. That in itself is a strong indicator though; we’ve been told time and again that everyone is obsessed with the location of Phorros Irrendra right from the start; the Shahalesti were willing to release an important prisoner to try to discover its position; the Ragesians have sent a large army, although that serves a dual purpose in that it also menaces that Shahalesti capital.</p><p> </p><p>So, from looking below, either there is another refuge or Fayne, Liat and Rhuarc are what remains of the Taranesti race…….”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim grimaced:</p><p> </p><p>“All of a sudden, I prefer your refuge theory, Faden.”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge stayed at his lookout point while the paladin and I moved back to the camp and settled down.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6213122, member: 6692807"] Still grumbling and irritated, Longhelim and Victor returned back into the tunnels and we started again. The path was familiar as we passed the same junctions and moved down the same tunnels; except that Drudge swore that the markings were on different tunnels this time. I wasn’t sure just what the Taranesti had done but the magic that they must have used to hide their city was puzzling and extraordinary; usually, there were several very powerful spells which would find the way to a location, no matter how well hidden but these were known spells and the Shahalesti must have tried them over the years; yet, here, we could see why Phorros Irrendra had stayed hidden for so many years. The directions had changed as soon as we tried them again; it was fascinating and as I was walking, I tried to theorise as to how it could be done. Just as I was tying together the threads of an idea, John suddenly said: “Stop!” Then he took out a wand and pointed it at Drudge. “There! Now here’s hoping that you’ll like me more than pretty drow ladies you meet at the bottom of caves in the middle of a haunted forest!” With that, John grinned at the ranger and bounced on. Drudge sidled up to me and asked: “What was that all about?” “He cast a spell on you which makes you his very good friend; and I mean a really, really good friend.” “But I’m already very good friends with him.” “Yes, but he’s speculating that if you’re magically very good friends with him, that will counter any other spells of that type that could be cast on you; such as the one the succubi almost certainly cast on you previously. It’s a clever thought; he’s most likely correct. Trust me, my friend; no matter how wonderful she may have seemed, you would not want to have been kissed by her.” “Uh, thanks for that…..I think.” We carried on walking through the caverns; as previously, they were wide, dry and quite pleasant. They seemed to be remarkably free of any obstacles or places where we had to do any potential climbing. As previously, we were walking when a voice spoke out of darkness: “Finally, men not afraid to wield the power of the Burning Sky!” The voice was gravelly, deep and inhuman; it had a strange, menacingly hypnotic quality to it. We moved forward more cautiously when we saw that the path was broken by a small gap, where the river flowed into the cavern wall; beyond the gap, we could see a creature waiting for us; and what a creature! I recognized it immediately but only from descriptions and drawings from books; I had hoped never to meet one face to face myself. It was an enormous humanoid, as tall as a legendary giant and with matching muscles denoting great strength; it had four arms, two ending in pincers and the other pair were clawed; its head was that of a vicious dog in proportional size, as were its teeth; and at the moment, it was beckoning us with one of its pincers. “Come! Come closer so I can see you!” It was a glabrezu, an evil outsider from the pits of the Abyss. Supposedly, they were powerful spell casters as well as highly resistant to weapons unless they had been anointed by prayers from the forces of good; and finally, with four arms and powerful jaws, they were formidable combatants; just about the last being I wanted to meet down here. I began to shout this out to the others, much to the amusement of the glabrezu who began to laugh as he rumbled: “Very good, little dwarf, very good. You know my kind well! Have we met before?” However, his laughter stopped as Drudge let loose a barrage of arrows at it, which must have caused some damage, despite the glabrezu’s unholy protections; in retaliation, the creature fixed a baleful stare on his aggressor and literally barked at him which affected the ranger disastrously as his eyes suddenly turned upwards, the balls showing pure white in their sockets and rendered motionless, his bow now on the floor next to him; the bark was a word of power; however, this gave the rest of us time to react; I cast a spell on Victor which allowed him to fly; and Longhelim cast a spell on the warrior’s sword, blessing it with the power of Heironeous; the former immediately flew at the glabrezu who watched him approach with glittering eyes and then lazily swiped with a claw; it hit but Victor ploughed on and struck the creature in return. As I have stated in the past, when Victor strikes someone, it is often quite spectacular and the demon’s eyes widened as the warrior’s falchion bit deeply into his torso. The glabrezu had not been expecting to feel that and even he quickly realised that there was a real opponent facing him. It was at this point that the three succubi stepped out of the ethereal plane where they had been hiding and decided to attack us. They immediately engaged the rest of us in physical combat with only some success. Mostly, we recognized the relative dangers of the opponents and decided to ignore them. Felix quickly cast a flying spell on Longhelim who also flew at the glabrezu while the rest of us faced the three ladies. Thankfully, they may have had very powerful feminine wiles but they were not very good physical combatants; John did a spell of speed on the warriors, while I threw force missiles into the glabrezu; his unholy protections tried to stop them but I managed to force them through. The demon himself then cast another spell; I recognized it; it was the same spell that we had encountered in the strange elevator shaft in Castle Korstull; the one which made the victim act uncontrollably; thankfully, that experience seemed to add some sort of resistance to the group as no one seemed affected. At this point, I heard a bellow from the demon; Victor had just struck him three times in quick succession with such power and precision that even the gigantic outsider was shaken. He immediately reacted by casting a spell which created eight other shimmering images which whirled around him. It was a simple but annoying little spell and Longhelim immediately set about destroying as many of them as possible. He did get rid of several and then another barrage of arrows reduced the images even further; Drudge had recovered from the demon’s bark! Then Victor tried a new tactic as he seemed to slow slightly and then just at the right moment, he timed it the he actually struck the demon, causing yet another scream of outrage. Then Felix cast his own Word of Power, this one calling on his God; the glabrezu was unaffected but it had a devastating effect on the three succubi who all disappeared with a despairing wail. “Pah! Lightweights! Useless women!” barked the glabrezu and struck at Victor with his claws, pincers and jaws. The warrior was hurt but he returned the strike and again, Longhelim’s spell was making a great difference as the falchion bit deep; with a last amused rumble the glabrezu spoke: “I go home now from this place but seek the one you want in the fane of fallen hallows!” Victor was still in the same position when he struck the demon but then he recovered; slashed, wounded and bleeding, he looked into the darkness and quietly said to himself: “There seems to be an over abundance of demons on this place. I wonder if that’s why so many good outsiders have allied themselves to the Shahalesti.” Felix then went to him and began to look after his wounds. I was scratching my head; looking at Longhelim, I asked: “What’s a fane of fallen hallows?” Shaking his head, the paladin replied: “I have no idea. I don’t know what a fane is, nor a fallen hallow; but I am assuming it is a place, considering what the demon said.” Frowning, I wondered; considering the nature of demons, it could actually be anything; I hoped it was obvious when we saw it; demons lied; they lied a lot. Once everyone had been healed and patched up, we carried on down the corridor. I was getting a little tired of the travel down here but it could have been worse. The spell of light behind us was most helpful in alleviating the potential danger of the cave system, which was why I was so perturbed when our spell suddenly stopped working, leaving us in total darkness. My eyesight immediately adjusted and a moment later a flurry of dust, debris and wind was caused by a multitude of ghosts and phantoms who screamed as they flew towards us with fury and rage; I knew that we were magically protected from the wind and the screams but it was still disquieting. John cast a spell and another beacon of light lit up to reveal a creature of legends; a huge reptile, black as night, with eight legs and an enormous jaw with protruding teeth jutting out of it. Its lambent eyes glowed green as it stared at Victor! I recognized it immediately: “It’s a basilisk! Their gaze can petrify; and that’s the biggest one of all; from the Abyss! Don’t bother hitting it with cold or fire; they are very resistant to the elements!” The ghosts were still swirling around and moaning, making it impossible for Drudge to fire any of his arrows at it so I cast my spell of speed on everyone, allowing Longhelim and Victor to reach it quickly and engage. Even Drudge, drew his sword and moved to flank it, since he was unable to fire his arrows; both of the warriors managed to strike it but it was a tough opponent and it quickly bit Longhelim; it had a particularly nasty bite as it caused a dreadful rent and gash in the paladin’s armour and torso. I moved around and I cast my own spell; a black ray shot out of my hand and weakened it. Unfortunately, that caused its attention to turn to me and…….. When I came to, I was in front of a grotto of green. It was a mass of trees! The tunnel had gone! Wildly I looked around me to see that everyone was watching me with an air of expectancy and Felix had just finished reading a scroll. “What…what happened?” I croaked. John……of course it would be John, answered immediately: “Well, you made a lovely statue; all black and shiny.” Longhelim gave the rogue a look and then explained: “We managed to send that hellish monster back to whatever pit it came from but unfortunately, not before it turned you into a stone statue; as soon as the beast was killed the ghosts fled; Felix tried to bring you back but failed; that thing, basilisk I think you called it, was indeed a truly demonic opponent; we carried you along for a time and arrived here.” At this point, he motioned with his hands at the scene in front of me. There were cliffs around us, carved with sigils and symbols of ages past. There was also a set of stairs carved into the cliffs, zig-zagging along the stone. There were also two tiers, possibly walkways, carved into the cliffs. The whole thing was an extraordinary achievement. Just the fact that there was some sort of grotto full of trees in front of us……Looking upwards, I could also see that there were also several small tunnels leading into the cliff. Longhelim continued: “Felix then remembered that he had a scroll that could possibly help you; that is what he has just used.” Still looking at the trees and greenery in front of me, I said: “Thank you, Felix. Converting me back from a stone statue is most mighty magic indeed; and I am most grateful you have access to it. By the way, succubi, a glabrezu, an abyssal basilisk; presumably we’ve all noticed a pattern here?” John nodded: “Yes, someone here certainly has or had an expertise in demonology.” The priest also nodded and then we decided to ascend the stairs to see where they led. We had to be careful as the stairs hugged the wall; I kept getting distracted by the strange plants and shapes on the cliffs until the stairs finally finished on a platform overlooking the valley. This cliff revealed a stunning panorama of a valley full of magnificent trees and dwellings. However, there was no sign of people. The whole area looked utterly deserted. Oh, there were signs of the city being inhabited previously, but not now. Light was coming from above from some mysterious source and the cliffs behind us rose up to much greater heights. As we took in the sight, we began to make out one or two further details: a copse of much taller trees there; some sort of structure in that direction; a glint of a waterfall in the far distance; finally, we decided to turn into mist and overfly the whole area to give ourselves a better view. Thankfully, we were able to glide over the sky without any hindrance and we did make out several features in the valley; there was an open area with a series of stone sculptures; a strange tree with stone spikes jutting out of its trunk; by far the largest structure was a large tower on top of a tree, near another group of trees with leaves the colour of emeralds; towards the far end of the valley, there was indeed a waterfall falling down the cliff into a tunnel leading underground; there was also another structure near the roots of an enormous tree and finally, another structure or house on built safely within the embrace of another large tree; this also looked like a substantial house. Once we had returned to the cliff side, we became flesh again and I asked: “So, what is the best course of action now? I must confess, I have few spells left after our journey through the caves. I hope we would be able to rest now.” Felix added: “I’m in the same situation; very few spells left and the situation below is unknown. I would also advocate rest.” “I’ve got my little hut,” said John. “We can use that in combination with any other spells to make our camp as secure as possible.” “Combine it with my magical stone wall,” said Felix. I watched with interest as a low shelter was set against the cliff face and then John conjured his cottage around it. It really was quite effective. After this had been constructed, we settled down for the day, resting and recuperating. Drudge was keeping a watch on the city below but there was no movement. I joined him for some time and also watched; then I let out a short laugh. The ranger looked at me inquisitively: “There’s no one below, is there? Leska has sent a whole army looking for this place, Shalaadel has committed numerous atrocities trying to force anyone to reveal its location and for what? This isn’t the last refuge of the Taranesti; I think they’re actually far sneakier than that. They have another refuge somewhere but they leaked the secret of this one so that the Shahalesti and the Ragesians spend so many resources looking for it, they don’t even realise there is another. I wonder where the real one is?” Longhelim had come up behind us, staring at the panorama below: “That’s an interesting theory, Faden; do you have any proof with which you can back it up?” “Well, apart from the fact that this so-called last refuge of the Taranesti is completely empty, no. That in itself is a strong indicator though; we’ve been told time and again that everyone is obsessed with the location of Phorros Irrendra right from the start; the Shahalesti were willing to release an important prisoner to try to discover its position; the Ragesians have sent a large army, although that serves a dual purpose in that it also menaces that Shahalesti capital. So, from looking below, either there is another refuge or Fayne, Liat and Rhuarc are what remains of the Taranesti race…….” Longhelim grimaced: “All of a sudden, I prefer your refuge theory, Faden.” Drudge stayed at his lookout point while the paladin and I moved back to the camp and settled down. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
Top