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
Tirlanolir/D'nemy's Tales of Turgos: The Heroes of Goldfire Glen (UPDATE 7/26)
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="Canaan" data-source="post: 4361528" data-attributes="member: 40239"><p><strong>Chapter 39: Return to Balian's Tower</strong></p><p></p><p>My first thought was to tend to Hu Li, make sure he was alright. I hurried over to the mage and put my hand on his elbow with a questioning look. I was concerned for his health and more than a little discomfited by his newly purpled irises.</p><p></p><p>In typical Hu Li fashion, my concern was rebuffed as he jerked his elbow away from me. “What, <em>priest</em>? If I wanted to be touched by you, I would become your altar boy.” Hu Li screeched.</p><p></p><p>I suddenly didn’t care anymore whether or not Hu Li was well. My face felt warm under the mage’s rebuff. If my mind hadn’t been pre-occupied with trying to intellectualize what was happening with Lilian, or Illyria, I might have lost my temper. Instead, I turned to Illyria, questions filling my mind. “What of our friend, Lilian, the one who’s body you possess?”</p><p></p><p>“Lilian doesn’t live here anymore. This sack of water and sponge was empty when I arrived.” Illyria responded.</p><p></p><p>The callous response took me off-guard and before I could ask another question, Illyria asked, “Which way is it to the Ebon Mirror?” </p><p></p><p>I pointed toward Balian’s Tower. </p><p></p><p>Illyria immediately began walking in that direction.</p><p></p><p>Spurred into action by her departure, I quickly began gathering our things and saw that the others did the same. We ran after her.</p><p></p><p>“What is that thing?” Rin asked Hu Li.</p><p></p><p>Hu Li turned to the Dark-Sider, eyes blazing with intensity. “You cannot possibly comprehend what that creature is, demon. Revel in its magnificence.”</p><p></p><p>“You keep speaking of an Ebon Mirror. Where was this Ebon Mirror?” Shallahai asked me in a conspiratorial tone. “I don’t remember seeing a mirror in the ritual chamber.”</p><p></p><p>“It was the black pool under the floor.” I answered patiently with the knowledge I had obtained from the Book of Abu Abai. “Balian was its guardian. That is why he did not leave the tower. The mirror cannot be moved. It is fixed in place.”</p><p></p><p>I continued. “Balian was trying to leave for some purpose. That is why he summoned the Horror to guard the mirror in his absence. From his scribblings in the margins of the Book, I gather it has something to do with his sister and Kharas’Voorhies.”</p><p></p><p>“I didn’t know he had a sister.” Hu Li piped up, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation. </p><p></p><p>I sighed. “She and Kharas’Voorhies were apparently in love when Kharas’Voorhies lived. And she disappeared on his death. Balian theorizes that she is still in Turgos and fears that she has been transformed by the lich into some abomination. He seeks to obtain information on her whereabouts in the realm of insanity by consulting some sage-like creature.” I explained.</p><p></p><p>We traveled through the alien landscape to Balian’s Tower. I sunk into myself in an effort to block out the sights I saw. It gave me the opportunity to think things through. I had witnessed a servant of Canaan and good friend killed and possessed by an entity of apparently great and terrible power. What had gone wrong to get us to this point? I was traveling through the afterbirth of a realm that had no business in this dimension, a realm I had briefly experienced once before and had hoped never to experience again, but such was not Canaan’s plan for me. I should have been carrying Lilian’s corpse to Soliel to the Voice and Will. I should have been atoning for my weakness in the temples. I should have been trying to convert the Dark Sider, Rin, or at least trying to save his immortal soul. I should have been trying to warn the Duke that it is possible that those that worship the Sleeping Gods in the land to the south are planning an invasion of Turgos. I should have been fulfilling my penance as demanded by Archbishop Tagavarius to discover the Adversarial plot that threatened Turgos. So why didn’t I do those things? Why was traveling to the place of my likely death to assist an abomination that had taken control of my former best friend’s corpse? </p><p></p><p>It was because I was curious. </p><p></p><p>Canaan help me, but that was why I did what I did. Curiosity. It was at that moment that I first realized that my decisionmaking process was flawed or becoming corrupted. I no longer approached decisionmaking from the perspective of duty. I have been a terrible example to myself and the others. I was failing as a priest. Canaan forgive me.</p><p> </p><p>Once at the tower, we saw what had become of the giant ducks that lived outside of the tower. They had tripled in size, their eyes were bloodshot and their tongues were black and pointed, like a tentacle. They flapped their wings furiously and attacked us on sight.</p><p></p><p>It was over before it began.</p><p></p><p>Illyria moved with the speed and grace of a jungle cat. She surveyed the field and with an outstretched hand, palm forward, she swept the entire field of the dozen or so terrifying giant flightless birds. The next instant she was standing over the dead creatures without so much as a scratch on her. I didn’t actually see her do anything. One second the flightless birds were alive and attacking, the next they were dead, necks broken. Nobody had moved, except Illyria. It was as if she moved faster than time, itself.</p><p></p><p>“H-how, did you do that?” I asked. </p><p></p><p>Illyria did not answer. She kept walking toward the Tower, approaching the drawbridge.</p><p></p><p>I looked at Shallahai questioningly. He merely shrugged his shoulders and followed Illyria.</p><p></p><p>Furniture was overturned and strewn everywhere. We heard a shriek coming from the great dining hall. Running to the source of the sound, we entered the hall and saw Orolde crouched behind a large section of the broken, charred and overturned dining table, the table at which he had once dined when Lilian was alive. A large brain-like creature hovered in the air on the other side of the table. Its mass was interrupted by a protruding beak that shrieked loudly as it dodged a blue-white ray of frost that Orolde emitted from his pointed index finger as he shouted arcane syllables. Long tentacles draped from the bottom of the creature and hung to the floor. Orolde was bruised and bleeding from several scrapes. His finery was ripped and dirty.</p><p></p><p>Rin blasted it with a bolt of purplish arcane energy, drawing its attention to us. I drew my mace as Shallahai stepped up, calling on the power of the Green to bolster him as he drew Yundir. Talon took a defensive stance, ready to intercept the creature should it choose to engage any of us. As the creature advanced, tentacles quivering in rage, intent on grappling the Dark Sider that had injured it, Talon was a flurry of punches and kicks. The creature was unprepared for the full fury of the monk and fell to his blows.</p><p></p><p>Orolde came out from under the table, breathing heavily. “Thank you. Oh thank you! I thought I was done for until you arrived.”</p><p></p><p>“What is happening here?” Shallahai asked. “Where is Balian?”</p><p></p><p>“Balian and the Horror, they are trapped in a never-ending contest of wills within the Ebon Mirror. They must be dislodged from the Mirror and the Mirror allowed to close.” Orolde pleaded with us.</p><p></p><p>“Assuming that is possible, what will become of Balian?” Talon asked.</p><p></p><p>“I don’t know. He could be killed by the backlash. He could be shunted into the Realm of Insanity. He could be killed by the Horror.” Orolde posited. “But he spoke to me in my mind just before all of this happened. ‘Have no worry about me, my friend, for the sake of all of Turgos, the Ebon Mirror must be closed’ He said. I don’t have the strength or the power. I don't have enough command of magic!”</p><p></p><p>“We must try.” I was firmly committed to this course of action. We needed to get the creature possessing Lilian out of her body and we needed to stop the dimensional bleeding. Closing the mirror accomplished both of those things.</p><p></p><p>Illyria looked around, as if sensing something. Suddenly, she turned toward the stairs to the basement and walked rapidly and purposely toward them, to the Summoning Chamber.</p><p></p><p>We quickly followed. There was no time to debate our purpose or our tactics and I was silently relieved by that fact. I wasn’t entirely sure I could diplomatically suffer any opposition to my plan.</p><p></p><p>The stone floor of the chamber was still open in the middle of the room, revealing the still black waters of the Ebon Mirror. Above the pool Balian and the Horror stood in seeming stasis, locked in eternal combat. Balian’s tentacles grappled with the Horror’s. The Horror’s mouth was gaping open as if it would take Balian’s head off. Balian’s forehead was furrowed in concentration and his lips seemed to be in the process of mouthing a spell.</p><p></p><p>We stopped at the door and marveled at the grotesque sight. I knew what to do and would not be swayed from my course. I quickly barked instructions at the others, telling them to form a circle around the pool, just as before. I then opened the Book of Abu-Abai and began incanting the words necessary for the ritual to close the mirror.</p><p></p><p>A white column of fire shot up from the pool towering toward the ceiling. This was the part of the ritual by which the mirror would be closed. The thrum of power was deafening. Our bodies were vibrating with potency as the magic lashed from one to another of us. </p><p></p><p>But something wasn’t right. I felt resistance to the incantation. It was like two magnets coming together. They are drawn together initially, but repelled when they get to close. Like two magnets, the magic seemed to pass over the Mirror and not penetrate it. </p><p></p><p>“Somehow we have to get them out of the Mirror. Balian and that creature have wedged open the Mirror in their struggle.” I yelled over the thrum of power now emanating from all of us. </p><p></p><p>“It has to be done now!” I yelled desperately, barely containing the arcane magicks I had conjured.</p><p></p><p>Everything began to slow down, nearly to a halt. My movements and those of everyone and everything else around me slowed and ground to a halt. In that moment, Illyria ran, with the speed of a cheetah, into the pool and bull rushed both Balian and the Horror.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Canaan, post: 4361528, member: 40239"] [b]Chapter 39: Return to Balian's Tower[/b] My first thought was to tend to Hu Li, make sure he was alright. I hurried over to the mage and put my hand on his elbow with a questioning look. I was concerned for his health and more than a little discomfited by his newly purpled irises. In typical Hu Li fashion, my concern was rebuffed as he jerked his elbow away from me. “What, [I]priest[/I]? If I wanted to be touched by you, I would become your altar boy.” Hu Li screeched. I suddenly didn’t care anymore whether or not Hu Li was well. My face felt warm under the mage’s rebuff. If my mind hadn’t been pre-occupied with trying to intellectualize what was happening with Lilian, or Illyria, I might have lost my temper. Instead, I turned to Illyria, questions filling my mind. “What of our friend, Lilian, the one who’s body you possess?” “Lilian doesn’t live here anymore. This sack of water and sponge was empty when I arrived.” Illyria responded. The callous response took me off-guard and before I could ask another question, Illyria asked, “Which way is it to the Ebon Mirror?” I pointed toward Balian’s Tower. Illyria immediately began walking in that direction. Spurred into action by her departure, I quickly began gathering our things and saw that the others did the same. We ran after her. “What is that thing?” Rin asked Hu Li. Hu Li turned to the Dark-Sider, eyes blazing with intensity. “You cannot possibly comprehend what that creature is, demon. Revel in its magnificence.” “You keep speaking of an Ebon Mirror. Where was this Ebon Mirror?” Shallahai asked me in a conspiratorial tone. “I don’t remember seeing a mirror in the ritual chamber.” “It was the black pool under the floor.” I answered patiently with the knowledge I had obtained from the Book of Abu Abai. “Balian was its guardian. That is why he did not leave the tower. The mirror cannot be moved. It is fixed in place.” I continued. “Balian was trying to leave for some purpose. That is why he summoned the Horror to guard the mirror in his absence. From his scribblings in the margins of the Book, I gather it has something to do with his sister and Kharas’Voorhies.” “I didn’t know he had a sister.” Hu Li piped up, clearly eavesdropping on our conversation. I sighed. “She and Kharas’Voorhies were apparently in love when Kharas’Voorhies lived. And she disappeared on his death. Balian theorizes that she is still in Turgos and fears that she has been transformed by the lich into some abomination. He seeks to obtain information on her whereabouts in the realm of insanity by consulting some sage-like creature.” I explained. We traveled through the alien landscape to Balian’s Tower. I sunk into myself in an effort to block out the sights I saw. It gave me the opportunity to think things through. I had witnessed a servant of Canaan and good friend killed and possessed by an entity of apparently great and terrible power. What had gone wrong to get us to this point? I was traveling through the afterbirth of a realm that had no business in this dimension, a realm I had briefly experienced once before and had hoped never to experience again, but such was not Canaan’s plan for me. I should have been carrying Lilian’s corpse to Soliel to the Voice and Will. I should have been atoning for my weakness in the temples. I should have been trying to convert the Dark Sider, Rin, or at least trying to save his immortal soul. I should have been trying to warn the Duke that it is possible that those that worship the Sleeping Gods in the land to the south are planning an invasion of Turgos. I should have been fulfilling my penance as demanded by Archbishop Tagavarius to discover the Adversarial plot that threatened Turgos. So why didn’t I do those things? Why was traveling to the place of my likely death to assist an abomination that had taken control of my former best friend’s corpse? It was because I was curious. Canaan help me, but that was why I did what I did. Curiosity. It was at that moment that I first realized that my decisionmaking process was flawed or becoming corrupted. I no longer approached decisionmaking from the perspective of duty. I have been a terrible example to myself and the others. I was failing as a priest. Canaan forgive me. Once at the tower, we saw what had become of the giant ducks that lived outside of the tower. They had tripled in size, their eyes were bloodshot and their tongues were black and pointed, like a tentacle. They flapped their wings furiously and attacked us on sight. It was over before it began. Illyria moved with the speed and grace of a jungle cat. She surveyed the field and with an outstretched hand, palm forward, she swept the entire field of the dozen or so terrifying giant flightless birds. The next instant she was standing over the dead creatures without so much as a scratch on her. I didn’t actually see her do anything. One second the flightless birds were alive and attacking, the next they were dead, necks broken. Nobody had moved, except Illyria. It was as if she moved faster than time, itself. “H-how, did you do that?” I asked. Illyria did not answer. She kept walking toward the Tower, approaching the drawbridge. I looked at Shallahai questioningly. He merely shrugged his shoulders and followed Illyria. Furniture was overturned and strewn everywhere. We heard a shriek coming from the great dining hall. Running to the source of the sound, we entered the hall and saw Orolde crouched behind a large section of the broken, charred and overturned dining table, the table at which he had once dined when Lilian was alive. A large brain-like creature hovered in the air on the other side of the table. Its mass was interrupted by a protruding beak that shrieked loudly as it dodged a blue-white ray of frost that Orolde emitted from his pointed index finger as he shouted arcane syllables. Long tentacles draped from the bottom of the creature and hung to the floor. Orolde was bruised and bleeding from several scrapes. His finery was ripped and dirty. Rin blasted it with a bolt of purplish arcane energy, drawing its attention to us. I drew my mace as Shallahai stepped up, calling on the power of the Green to bolster him as he drew Yundir. Talon took a defensive stance, ready to intercept the creature should it choose to engage any of us. As the creature advanced, tentacles quivering in rage, intent on grappling the Dark Sider that had injured it, Talon was a flurry of punches and kicks. The creature was unprepared for the full fury of the monk and fell to his blows. Orolde came out from under the table, breathing heavily. “Thank you. Oh thank you! I thought I was done for until you arrived.” “What is happening here?” Shallahai asked. “Where is Balian?” “Balian and the Horror, they are trapped in a never-ending contest of wills within the Ebon Mirror. They must be dislodged from the Mirror and the Mirror allowed to close.” Orolde pleaded with us. “Assuming that is possible, what will become of Balian?” Talon asked. “I don’t know. He could be killed by the backlash. He could be shunted into the Realm of Insanity. He could be killed by the Horror.” Orolde posited. “But he spoke to me in my mind just before all of this happened. ‘Have no worry about me, my friend, for the sake of all of Turgos, the Ebon Mirror must be closed’ He said. I don’t have the strength or the power. I don't have enough command of magic!” “We must try.” I was firmly committed to this course of action. We needed to get the creature possessing Lilian out of her body and we needed to stop the dimensional bleeding. Closing the mirror accomplished both of those things. Illyria looked around, as if sensing something. Suddenly, she turned toward the stairs to the basement and walked rapidly and purposely toward them, to the Summoning Chamber. We quickly followed. There was no time to debate our purpose or our tactics and I was silently relieved by that fact. I wasn’t entirely sure I could diplomatically suffer any opposition to my plan. The stone floor of the chamber was still open in the middle of the room, revealing the still black waters of the Ebon Mirror. Above the pool Balian and the Horror stood in seeming stasis, locked in eternal combat. Balian’s tentacles grappled with the Horror’s. The Horror’s mouth was gaping open as if it would take Balian’s head off. Balian’s forehead was furrowed in concentration and his lips seemed to be in the process of mouthing a spell. We stopped at the door and marveled at the grotesque sight. I knew what to do and would not be swayed from my course. I quickly barked instructions at the others, telling them to form a circle around the pool, just as before. I then opened the Book of Abu-Abai and began incanting the words necessary for the ritual to close the mirror. A white column of fire shot up from the pool towering toward the ceiling. This was the part of the ritual by which the mirror would be closed. The thrum of power was deafening. Our bodies were vibrating with potency as the magic lashed from one to another of us. But something wasn’t right. I felt resistance to the incantation. It was like two magnets coming together. They are drawn together initially, but repelled when they get to close. Like two magnets, the magic seemed to pass over the Mirror and not penetrate it. “Somehow we have to get them out of the Mirror. Balian and that creature have wedged open the Mirror in their struggle.” I yelled over the thrum of power now emanating from all of us. “It has to be done now!” I yelled desperately, barely containing the arcane magicks I had conjured. Everything began to slow down, nearly to a halt. My movements and those of everyone and everything else around me slowed and ground to a halt. In that moment, Illyria ran, with the speed of a cheetah, into the pool and bull rushed both Balian and the Horror. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Tirlanolir/D'nemy's Tales of Turgos: The Heroes of Goldfire Glen (UPDATE 7/26)
Top