Down with the Dead Men - Chapter 4
Down with the Dead Men – Chapter 4
OOC Notes:
Exp for 22 is 1100, for 23 is 750, for 24 is 600.
Loot:
8 +2 human bane shortswords
4 bracers of armor +3
4 ring of protection +1
4 amulet of natural armor +1
4 boots of speed
4 ring of resistance +1
Quote of the Week:
At the start of the session, Bolo was discussing the virtues of the dire shark form which he took last week while nearly getting killed by electrocution.
Bolo: “And I can smell creatures within a couple hundred feet and I can smell blood in the water up to a mile away!”
Aethramyr: “You currently smell blood in the water. Most of it’s yours.”
This Week’s Adventure:
As we were regrouping from the battle, another pulse of negative energy washed over us. This one was from a closer source however so either the source moved or there was more than one. The pulse reminded us to move quickly and we were soon moving towards the hive nestled in the opening of the Deathvent.
Me and my three new friends that is. Since I was the only one not wearing some kind of magical tiara and I was only slightly effective underwater, I took charge of the three remaining guardians of Shalthis. They were interesting creations and generally similar to shield guardians. It’s no surprise that the naga chose to run once deprived of their protection.
We crested the edge of the depression around the vent entrance without any other serious problems. The water here was warmer but there was no increase in volcanic activity that we could discern. There were strong currents around the Deathvent which would likely cause problems for most of us if we got too close. But it was the hive itself that was the most striking.
There were five large spheres. They rested on short legs, if you consider “short” as “the size of a large oak”. Between them were segmented tunnels that were jointed like the legs of a crab. There was no obvious door however, nor any sign of what was inside. But shadows did move across them as things inside moved past their internal lights. The domes varied in size but even the smallest was large enough to consist of several chambers.
While Valanthe was scouting, she spotted four creatures lurking in the shadows of one of the connecting tunnels. Even knowing where they were, I could not make them out, so there was no doubt they were doing more than just hiding well. Valanthe believed them to be dark stalkers but they were using some kind of shadow ability to remain concealed. Our best guess was they were moving towards our main group, but they were unaware of Valanthe watching them.
We took the initiative and assumed they weren’t friendly. Bolo used a Shadowblast to force to fully manifest, but it had no effect outside of that. Valanthe struck at one, and blue-green blood spread out into the water. The injured one made a quick shadowjump and appeared a short distance away.
Most of us were too far away to be of much impact. But between Valanthe’s blades and some chain lightning from Scorch, the remaining three were quickly killed. But the one that ran perhaps got the worst end of it. Bolo took off after him like a crossbow bolt. The dark stalker was fumbling to find some kind of entry into one of the legs supporting a sphere and could do nothing but stare in shock as the large shark got closer and closer.
Then with a single spasm of teeth and muscle, Bolo devoured the stalker. And with no small satisfaction as well.
[Note for the readers: Five sets of eyes turned to Bolo’s player and said “You swallowed our loot.” The details of the retrieval are left to the reader’s imagination.]
The stalker also did us the kind favor of showing us where to look for an entry into the sphere. We found the panel and were able to rise up through the hollow leg into the air-filled sphere. The dragons and tatterdemalions remained at the entry to fend off the manta rays that were showing an interest in all the blood in the water.
Valanthe surfaced first, and as she rose through the water she could make out a keening wail of a sound. When she poked her head up, she saw a mushroom that was slowly loping around the chamber, screaming its head off. The chamber looked like a dock but there was no sign of any life beyond the mushroom and no sign of response to the alarm. I broke the surface and silenced the wail of the mushroom. If it had been a genuine alarm, nobody seemed interested. Either nobody heard it or it was a false alarm and was ignored. We got ourselves out of the water (and dried off for some of us, much to my relief. Being wet underwater is one thing. Being soggy while in the air is another entirely.)
The room itself was strange and bizarre. The floor was spongy and seemed to be some kind of spongy tissue over a bone latticework. We began to think that the building was actually some kind of creature, perhaps grown for the task. There were two doors of a shell-like material that closed like an iris. Neither showed any way of opening it, and Valanthe could find no way, magical or mundane, to open them.
Bolo wanted to try something. And while there was some rolling of eyes, it turned out to be a fairly good idea. He cast a spell called “Speak with anything” then began chatting with the door.
[Reader’s note: There was a great deal of protesting at a spell that had not been submitted to the review committee with the required 72 hours notice. But when we heard the name of the spell, we uttered the fateful words “Oh. Hm. Well how bad could that be?”]
The door would not let us pass because we were not “of shadow”. This was rather confusing since it wouldn’t even let Valanthe pass, and she was clearly as “of shadow” as anyone. There was a bit of back-and-forth with the door and I was about ready to tell one of my new guardians to just smash the thing for the sake of moving on when Scorch had a thought.
“Perhaps we’re over-thinking this. It’s a door after all. It just isn’t that smart. We may be giving it too much credit.”
“Ok,” I said. “Let’s take it from the other end. How does it know someone is ‘of shadow’?”
Bolo asked and the door said that either you were enchanted properly, you used a certain gesture or you carried a symbol. It didn’t take long before we held up one of the amulets retrieved from the dark stalkers and the door happily opened for us. (The amulets were fairly standard protective magic and we didn’t give them much thought after collecting them but they turned out to have a dual use here.)
After passing through assorted doors and corridors (presumably provided to seal off water in the event of a breach) we came to a more ornate area decorated with plush red carpets. The doors in this area had odd scrollwork and art on the walls depicting above-ground cityscapes. The text was in old Sule.
One door in particular had a great deal of ornate carvings and was magically warded. Valanthe was able to circumvent the magical trap but the amulet would not open this door. It was much thicker than the others so smashing it would be more difficult. But after some study, it seemed the runes depicted a genealogy. One of the symbols even matched the one used by Chavram on his banners. Our theory that the door was perhaps keyed to Chavram’s line was confirmed when we pushed Dravot at the door and it opened for him.
There was a large throne-like chair, but it showed few signs of use. The chamber looked more like a personal library than anything. Open books were scattered on tables and maps were pinned to the walls, while communiqués were neatly piled up awaiting attention. Some of the maps were of the underdark while others were of areas around Geoff and the Shield Lands. A cursory examination of the communiqués showed that some of them were to the drow and other groups, including some to Eclavadra. The name sent a chill down my spine and I explained to the others that she was the Lady of one of the great drow cities and very powerful indeed. The messages seemed to be about a request for an emissary. There were similar messages to other nations in the underdark. There was even one that appeared to be a map until we opened it to see it was a message written largely in a crude, surely giantish, hand.
A quick look at the books indicated they were likely many of the ones that were taken from Brindinford. There were some discussing demi-gods and others that dealt with the binding of demons and devils. We gathered up every book, map, and message and took them with us. Any insight into Chavram’s plans would be valuable.
Against one wall were three stone chests or coffins. Inside each was a marionette similar to what we saw in the ShadowTaker’s lair. The floor of the chests were bloodstone vitaesis.
They were surely of his construction but there were metal bands added with scrollwork and symbols on them. The symbols were old Sule and the translation was chilling indeed.
The bargain can be altered.
We destroyed the marionettes but kept the bands. One of them had more of a shape than the other two and seemed to reminiscent of a barghest. It had a more palpable aura of evil than the others did. When we destroyed that one, a blood-red spectre broke free of the wooden body and screamed in agony as it was destroyed.
I didn’t want to contemplate the purpose of these twisted creations and I was glad we didn’t have time to dwell on it.
Two other nearby chambers were much more spartan. One looked more like a priest’s cell with a neat orderly desk containing logs and record books. The logs indicated they were the work of Dravot’s brother Kaltin. The other was more literally a cell with chains on the wall and hardly any furniture at all, and the only conclusion was that this was where Chavram kept Dravot’s father locked up.
Another chamber further on was decorated entirely in shades of blue. It was a study with a luxurious carpet and richly appointed chairs. On a desk was an unrefined lump of onyx vitaesis. There were no other exits save a trap door that dropped into the water. The scrolls on the desk were largely unopened but had agreements about the exchange of resources in trade. They made it clear we were in the chamber of Vivisectus, the current leader of the blue dragons.
Well, I suppose we had annoyed Infernus enough for the time being. Why not Vivisectus?
We quickly explored the rest of the dome but there was little more than supplies and furniture in various storerooms. So we made our way to one of the segmented tunnels that would lead to the central dome. It was the largest one and the fact that we hadn’t seen anyone in the first dome implied that the meeting was underway.
As we moved into one chamber of the hallway, a hundred zombies stood drooling. I’m not sure if they were sent there as a response or just designed to act as an alarm. We shared some puzzled looks but ultimately Aethramyr just shrugged and Dravot annihilated them all.
Past the next door were six drow males. They each had wands and sent fireballs down the hallway at us. Of course neither they nor their fireballs were much of an issue and we were again left with the feeling that they were simply something designed to create a lot of noise in the process of its destruction.
The next door opened into the central dome which unlike the last was simply one massive chamber some two hundred feet across. The room was shadowy and the few small globes of light could do little to hold back the patches of natural and unnatural darkness that lurked in the room. The chamber itself was a large coliseum or theatre, with tiers of bench seats descending towards a central dais and speaking platform. We had entered at the top level and stairs stretched out leading towards the floor. Scattered around the room was evil of all kinds. Half a dozen more nightstalkers were to one side, looking sterner than their deceased brethren. One woman carried a crossbow wreathed in black flames. On the dais to one side were three drow – two women and a man. The women were spellcasters while the man carried a wicked double-sword, also burning with black fire. Even the ceiling had its own brand of malice, with another nightstalker wielding a vicious dagger. Further away, two burning eyes turned towards us and a minotaur deathknight snorted in challenge. He would have been more awe-inspiring were it not for the sheer size of the undead spider he was riding simply making the whole scene beyond belief.
And in the center, surrounded by four pinpoints of light, stood Chavram. There was no sign of the rest of Dravot’s family, but Chavram stood proud and smiling amidst the assembly. He looked utterly unsurprised by our arrival.
He called out, as the whispers at our entrance grew to grumbles and shouts. “Ah! Grandson! You and your lackeys have arrived! As I had hoped.”
At that, the room fell silent again.
Dravot waved a hand absently. “Well we received your invitation and it would have been so rude to decline.”
Chavram smiled. “Good. Our game is almost done.”
Or was it? Dravot saw the form and it looked like Chavram. But the movements did not match properly. It wasn’t truly Chavram. Was it Kaltin? The Mark was glowing brightly on his arm.
Chavram smiled a bit seeing the wheels turn. He waved at the assembled delegates as he spoke to us. “Now if you would be so kind as to kill all of them, we can proceed.”
The other delegates were expressing surprise or confusion, each according to their ability to understand or expect their betrayal. The dark assassins seemed unfazed. The drow however looked so stunned that a stiff breeze might have knocked them over. Over the murmurs I heard one of them say “You think you can betray us so soon?”
Chavram just smiled. “If you need an incentive grandson, your prize is this body. If you succeed, you can save it. If not… well I’m sure these fools will tear it apart.”
Finally the drow were ready to say something. One of the females said “The drow empire will destroy you Chavram.”
Chavram wheeled on her in disgust and contempt. “I've laid these plans for years to prepare for what must come. I will not brook interference from your pathetic 'empire' of faithless slaves and lawless self-destruction. The drow stand in my way, so they will be destroyed. In fact," he said idly, "by now, they already are.”
