Demonskar Legacy - Chapter 4 and 5
Demonskar Legacy – Chapter 4 and 5
Author’s Note:
For assorted reasons, I didn’t write up chapter 4 after it happened as is my habit. So I’m doing these together.
OOC Notes:
Exp from chapter 3 was 2450.
Exp for chapter 4 is 5200. Most party members become 9th level.
Exp for chapter 5 is 4630. Those of you good at math will realize that puts most of us at 10th.
Loot:
280gp
4300sp
12 pieces of amber, 100gp ea
+1 arrow deflection light metal shield
Wand of lightning bolt CL 7, 14 charges
2 jugs of 10 doses of alchemist fire each
Wand of displacement 11 charges
+1 warhammer (large creature)
+3 chain shirt (large creature)
A nice dagger
Wand of cure serious, 22 charges
Wand of dispel magic, 18 charges (CL 5)
Parts of the silver and platinum cage
3 rings of protection +2
disembodied eyeball gemstone from hags
5 golden baboon masks
staff
130gp
Full set of silverware
Golden armband 120gp
Scroll – CL 14, prying eyes, greater dispel magic, sequester
Necklace of fireballs, level undetermined
2 potions cure serious
4 potions cure moderate
Mace +1 light mace
10 carpets
This Week’s Adventure:
We made our way to the interior of the fortress. Large disks on the ceiling would start glowing as we approached, which made it easy to see but also made it pretty obvious we were coming. The first large chamber was some kind of melted meeting room.
I say “melted” because the most notable fixture looked like it had been warped and twisted when it was new and then suffered more indignities from there. It was either some kind of table with bizarre chairs, or a sculpture from an artist who had gone insane.
In the next room, there was a font – two hands cradled a globe from which flowed a purple liquid which flowed down graceful columns and into a basin. A chalice sat on the rim of the font, inviting any and all to partake. The liquid showed traces of magic, but the font itself radiated with powerful enchantments. Glyph took a sample of the liquid for later examination but otherwise we left the entire thing alone.
We crept through a few other rooms, several with caved-in passages. One passage reflected a flickering blue light, and occasional banging could be heard. We slipped quietly down the hall (well as quietly as we could) and saw a forge. Against one wall was a pile of smashed anvils, as if they were used until they broke from stress and then were tossed aside.
Then a large hand reached around from out of view and lobbed a piece of anvil at Bellsin as a deep voice yelled “We’re under attack! The Blue Tyger Legion is here!”
A giant of a… well… giant stepped into view, reaching for a warhammer leaning against an intact anvil. His reddish skin and orange beard marked him as a fire giant, and one that would not fall easily. I looked back down the corridor, and saw a group of ettins gaining momentum and readying to hit us from behind.
“We’ll take the giant,” Astrid waved. “Maris, slow down those ettins.” The giant just smiled, and used a small wand to cause his image to shift and waver.
Maris took that literally, and in a moment the ettins were moving like they were stuck in tar. One ettin seemed to have escaped the effect, but he was stuck in the back and could be heard bellowing “Will you guys move!?!?” To make it more complicated, Maris then filled the corridor with sticky webbing, and the slowed giants were bogged down even further. Only the last giant was free of the goo.
“I hate you guys.”
Maris giggled.
The girls moved in on the giant, bolstered by assorted magics. Grinder had gotten close first, and the giant brought his hammer down and smashed the construct very nearly flat in one blow. Astrid drew first blood on the giant, but the giant then struck back, smashing armor and ribs alike. Kris was ready and quickly healed her to keep her from being killed in the next attack. Bellsin, cloaked by an earlier spell, stepped in and at his touch the shifting images around the giant stabilized and were gone. Elizabeth then cut deep into the giant’s leg, but he spun around bringing his hammer in a long arc around to make contact, and Elizabeth was thrown back into the anvil and collapsed on the ground. The giant couldn’t very well ignore Astrid though and that allowed Kris the chance to get to Elizabeth and keep her from getting any closer to death’s door. It cost him a glancing blow from the giant but he managed to save Elizabeth.
The moment was all Astrid needed, and she brought her halberd deep into the giant’s midsection. He was beaten and bloody and the blow sent him reeling and let Astrid swing low to his ankle, bringing him down for the final blow to the head.
The ettins were… having a tough time of it. The first of them were breaking through the webbing, and Astrid tried to take advantage of their confusion and the bad view they had. She took on the appearance of the giant (albeit smaller).
“Form up and kill them! They cursed me!” she called in giantish.
The ettins, seeing an opportunity to attack their hated master, roared and charged Astrid. For her part, she merely shrugged and moved back around the corner where our line was setting up anyway. “Worth a try,” she shrugged.
Before ducking behind our line, Maris left the giants a parting gift – a lightning bolt. Then she slipped behind the girls and waited for them to come charging in.
Bellsin had a thought and had gone to the body of the fire giant looking for the wand he had used, but it wasn’t there. He thought quickly and cast a spell, and then could see a small mephit, skulking away with the wand in hand. It looked over it’s shoulder at Bellin who tapped his foot. “Wand. Now,” he said, pointing at the floor.
The mephit thought only briefly, then smiled a big, overdone smile. He placed the wand on the floor and then started backing away. Quickly. Bellsin waved a hand dismissing him and the creature skittered away.
By now the ettins came around the corner and crashed into a fighting line set to receive them. Weakened as they were, and moving slowly besides, they really didn’t stand much chance. The girls cut down each one as they arrived, supported by Kris, Maris and Glyph. By the time the idea of retreat settled into one of their addled heads, it was already too late.
With the dust settled we looked around a bit. Just as we were looking down one hall, a group of four hill giants popped out on the other end. They braced for a moment, then they looked past us and saw the fallen ettins. There was a quick exchange of glances as the Blue Tygers started moving closer and then the giants lowered their weapons.
“Ah… we just go now, ok?” one said in broken Common.
Astrid replied in giant. “You leave. Now. And take only what you’re carrying now.”
The giants nodded eagerly. “We go!”
After some looking around to determine the area was safe, we examined the forge in more detail. The forge itself was magical and incredibly hot. While this was interesting, it was overshadowed by the cage.
A cage around eight foot square had been constructed. It was made of isometril and silver and platinum and was etched with arcane markings. It had a large hoop structurally linked to the top, as if the cage was designed to be hung from something.
When she touched the cage, Maris stopped cold. A moment later she shook out of it.
“I saw… something. A vision, like the others. I saw Bellsin in bone shackles hanging from a tree in an iron cage. Above the tree, there was a big gash, like a rip in space. The other side looked like Hell.”
“It may be worse than that,” commented Glyph. He and Elizabeth had been carefully examining the cage’s construction. “There are markings here – not the arcane ones. It looks like this was a prototype. I think the giant was using this one as a guide to make more.” Elizabeth nodded in silent agreement with Glyph’s assessment.
“It would be unwise for us to explore much more here without resting first, and this seems as safe a place as any. See what you can learn about this thing.” Astrid said.
“I think we should take it with us,” Elizabeth said. “That way Maris and Glyph can research the arcane scrawlings later, and the materials themselves are valuable. And that way we eliminate the prototype and perhaps even learn how to break them later. With the forge here, I think we can take it apart without too much trouble.”
Glyph and Elizabeth spent a few hours taking apart the cage. It went slowly at first but then once they broke the main structure the rest came apart readily enough. They carefully marked the pieces so they could reassemble it if need be and stored it in a magical backpack.
Several hour’s rest was enough to refresh everyone. Except Elizabeth.
“This is wrong,” she told me. “This is not good. Did you see that thing?” She meant the fire giant.
“Yes, I saw it,” I told her. “What about it?” I was calm, because she was not. She needed some ‘calm’ right now.
“This is not fit work for a mercenary company. Standing up to a giant who can kill me in one stroke is NOT what I signed up for,” she hissed.
“Technically, you didn’t sign up for anything as I recall,” I replied. “You were asked for help. Should you have said no?”
“Maybe. I don’t think we’re strong enough for this. We’re not heroes here. We’re just some random people,” she said. What she meant was “I’m just a farm girl.”
“What did Wulfgar used to say to you? ‘A hero is scared too, but they go ahead and do what needs doing anyway.’ To these people you are a hero. You act. You do what they cannot even if it is dangerous.” There was no need to keep speaking out loud so I thought directly to her.
”I’m scared.” she thought quietly.
”I know,” I thought, projecting reassurance. ”But are you scared of what you fight, or of what you’re becoming? Of what we’re becoming?”
”I don’t understand that either. When Damalast passed through camp and showed me things, I thought it was just minor magic. Simple spells. And when he showed me how to make you, I thought it was partly my imagination. But now it’s all swirling around, like an itch in my mind that I can’t quite remember. It’s all happening so fast.”
”We’re not magic. Maris’ and Glyph’s reactions make that clear enough. They’re not sure what to make of you.” I said. ”That scares you?”
”I just don’t know what to think any more. I don’t know where this is going. I thought I’d be swinging a sword but there’s more,” Elizabeth thought.
”Then maybe we need to find someone to talk to who understands this better, if that will make you feel better about it. But we can’t just leave this place, or ignore what’s happening around us. You know that.”
”I know,” she thought, trying to be strong and yet giving in at the same time.
We spent some time in meditation after that, and she calmed down. She had a moment amidst the swirling colors and music that exist inside her mind where she refused to be swept along and instead demanded beauty and harmony, and the colors and sounds obeyed. After that she slept much better.
The “morning” came, and we returned to the task of finding Sir Alek. We made our way back to the sculpture room to explore another passage, but someone was waiting for us. As we entered the room, the lights came up, and there was a soft swelling of music as if a choir sang in the distance. On the table-like thing, three angelic figures stood, smiling at us. The center one bore a chalice.
The center angel spoke. “Thank you noble warriors. You have removed the evil taint of the fire giant and his horde. This ancient and sacred site has been relieved of their evil. This place is an oasis in the heart of the Demonskar, now cleansed of their vile touch.”
Elizabeth made out a medallion of Pelor on the neck of one of the angels, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The cynicism was palpable among the Blue Tygers. Not a single one of them believed a word of it. The angels seemed not to notice, as the team moved in and spread out slightly.
“This is the nectar of the gods – we offer it to you as reward for your brave actions,” the middle one said.
“Uh huh,” Kris said coolly. Bellsin, being closer, peered into the chalice skeptically, while a ringing single tone in the air marked Elizabeth summoning her invisible shield.
I honestly can’t tell you what happened here. The Blue Tyger Legion may be many things, but “good actors” is not one of them. They didn’t believe these were angels, and I can’t believe that didn’t show. The “angels” were either persistent or very dim. Only when Kris waved his hand with the calm words of a spell designed to reveal toxins did the charade finally waver.
One let out a heavy sigh. “Enough sisters. It is clear they do not believe it.” All at once, the illusion fell away, revealing three shriveled old women. They had green skin, kelp-like hair, and deep scars on their faces and their lower bodies were like crickets. One of them spat a few words and glowing walls appeared around Elizabeth and Maris.
Kris uttered a quick prayer, energizing everyone’s weapons. Maris turned to Elizabeth. “I can get us out of here.”
“Then do it,” Elizabeth said.
“Well it’s just that… that is to say I *think* I can. I had an idea last night. But I haven’t tried it yet,” Maris said.
Elizabeth held up a hand. “I’m not sure I want to know any more. Let’s just try it.”
Maris said a few short syllables, and they disappeared and reappeared behind one of the hags. Maris looked incredibly pleased. Elizabeth just looked relieved.
The hag spun on them and clawed at Elizabeth but missed. There was a third eye in a hole gouged in the hag’s hand.
The middle sister was wearing a tiara with an eye set in the middle. The eye gazed at Glyph and he fell under the spell and began screaming and running.
The sisters were a menace but with Astrid and Elizabeth close, and support from Maris and Kris, they were in over their heads. The first hag fell quickly, and the second was injured by spellfire in a matter of seconds. Bellsin’s talents were particularly suited to the occasion and he was making the most of them. Soon there was only one injured hag left and she fled down the hallway and turned invisible.
Which doesn’t really help when Maris fills the hallway with webbing. The Blue Tygers ran down the trapped hag and sent her to join her sisters.
“Not too bright were they,” remarked Astrid.
“I might have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night,” replied Bellsin dryly.
The hags carried little, but the eyeball in the tiara was actually a gemstone. That and some magic rings were all they seemed to possess. They must have a lair here somewhere, and some exploration found it nearby. The scribblings on the door in dung and blood served as a pretty good indicator.
The room was actually fairly pleasant, with colorful carpets and tapestries and three beds. In one corner a large loom sat with a half-finished project. As we entered, piles of bones beside the beds swirled and animated, becoming six-armed skeletons. Each held a large five-sided mirror in its lower arms.
Elizabeth paused a moment, then raised the eyeball-gem high and waved it at them. They stopped in place. She said “Stand down” and the skeletons broke back apart into piles of bones and remained there.
Elizabeth nodded approvingly as Bellsin simply said “Nice.”
We moved in and searched the room carefully. Bellsin was drawn to a set of masks hanging on the wall. They were golden baboon masks much like the one we had seen at Tygot’s.
“… search behind the eyes…” he whispered to himself as he lifted the masks off the wall. Behind one was a small switch that revealed a large hidden compartment. Inside there was a box, six feet long and made of cherry wood and ornately carved. It carried holy symbols from half a dozen religions and was a work of art. Of course the case was nothing compared to what lay inside.
The case opened easily and held a staff of white wood nestled in velvet. It was covered in golden symbols and glowed with a soft white light. To no one’s surprise, carved down the side was the word “Alakast”.
Bellsin set the case on a table, and touched the staff. There was a jolt of power, and he jerked upright. The symbol of Carceri on his face burned with a bright fire. The sting passed quickly and he felt Alakast’s power cascading through him. He knew that each head was different, and whomever took up Alakast could unlock more of its power. Through it, he felt a burning hunger to destroy demons and devils and of course, Nabthateron.
Bellsin released the staff, and the symbol on his face once again faded away.
Glyphandar asked to see the staff, and noticed that the heads were carved with the words “Mind” and “Body”. When he touched the staff, he felt the power but not so directly as Bellsin.
Astrid touched the staff and had much the same experience as Bellsin. She could feel the holy mission of the staff.
Kris tried next. When he touched it, the ground around him glowed and a wind blew gently from nowhere. He could feel the holy power and a growing intelligence.
Elizabeth also tried, but the reaction was different. As her hand neared the staff, there was a keening wail coming from nowhere in particular. It was a piercing noise that shot through me, and through her, though nobody else seemed to hear it. As her fingers touched the wood, the noise wavered, as if a musical instrument was almost but not quite in tune. The sound shrieked and hovered about trying to find harmony for a moment before Elizabeth pulled her hand away and the noise faded.
“Well you were destined to find it,” remarked Kris.
“But not necessarily wield it,” Bellsin agreed. “I think that remains to be seen yet.”
The case was closed and we resumed searching the room. Once done we continued looking for Sir Alek.
Off the throne room there was hallway with a unique room. There was a large mirror built into one wall with a white marble chair facing it. The mirror was filled with pinpoints of light like stars. The ceiling was a large dome with four sides. As we entered there was movement from the chair, and the worn and haggard image of Sir Alek stared at us.
“Have you come? Am I… Are you just a product of my madness? Cauldron is in great danger. I’ve been trapped here,” he said, almost raving. “The mirror trapped me – I was trying to discern its power – to understand… But your arrival seems to have broken the spell.”
There was some wariness. “What kind of danger is Cauldron in?” Maris asked.
“I wasn’t strong enough, or maybe smart enough, to understand the power of the mirror. I thought I could. You fought your way here though, you might be able to,” he said, not really answering.
Astrid looked into the mirror. In the room in the reflection, there were doors on each side of the room. Inside she could make out the reflection of another Sir Alek. In a shifting image, she saw three strange creatures with long wicked daggers moving cautiously. Upon seeing Sir Alek, she became even more suspicious of the being sitting before us. Instinctively everyone started fingering weapons and Sir Alek looked nervous.
He held up his hands. “Wait. Please,” he said. His image shifted to resemble one of the creatures in the mirror. “I mean you no harm. My name is Gaflon. What do you want here? Are you here to destroy the mirror?”
“No. We are looking for Sir Alek,” Astrid said, pointing at the image in the mirror. “Nothing more.”
Gaflon relaxed visibly, and so did we. “My people are from the plane of mirrors. The spellweavers constructed this mirror in ages past. My people cannot pass through it however, but the one you seek lies within.”
“Do you know much of this place?” Glyph asked.
Gaflon shrugged. “I know some. It is an old place. Many enter the mirror and do not return.”
As a test, Glyph held up the vial of purple liquid from the fountain. “And what does this do?”
Gaflon said “It is an elixir of the spellweavers for their ogre slaves. It makes you stronger, but also weaker – more easily controlled. I understand it is also addictive. The spellweavers were careful masters. The fluid cannot last more than an hour outside the Demonskar.”
While they were speaking, Astrid touched the mirror. The surface was at first unyielding, but then rippled and allowed her finger to enter.
“I mean you no harm. I only ask that you do not harm the mirror. My people cannot pass through but we do get certain… benefits. I can tell you your friend has been there for many days and is starting to lose his grip on reality,” Gaflon said.
Astrid agreed. “We will not damage the mirror intentionally. We only want to release our friend. If we can do that without damaging the mirror, we will.”
Gaflon was satisfied. “I believe you. And I do not think you could damage it unintentionally,” he smiled. “If you are on the plane of mirrors, offer my name and I shall vouch for you.” He approached the mirror and it shimmered differently for him and he passed through and disappeared.
We spent some time studying the carvings on the floor, and also the silver plate that had led us here. Elizabeth and Bellsin seemed to have some ideas on how things might work but it was going to take some experimentation. It was agreed that everyone would have to pass through so they might stay together.
Astrid went first, and the room she entered resembled the one she left, save for five new doorways, each a different color. A rope tied to her to keep the group together fell slack as soon as she passed through.
Glyph went next and appeared in the same room yet different. The colored doorways were different colors but with the same overall theme.
Elizabeth and Bellsin entered next. It soon became apparent that they could hear each other but not perceive each other in any other way. Elizabeth and Bellsin each set off going through different colored doorways, trying two different theories of how to use the key in the silver plate.
Bellsin turned out to be right, and after passing through several doors in sequence he appeared in an ancient room that appeared to be part of a temple. The air was cooler and drier, and a massive set of iron double doors filled an archway. Crumpled on the floor was Sir Alek. He seemed starved or dehydrated and not entirely in his right mind. He had no supplies, just his sword and armor. As Bellsin examined him, he grabbed his collar suddenly.
“When the final cage is shackled, the burning doom shall RISE!” he cried out. “Stuck here! Trapped! It’s one way!”
We gathered up the rest of the group, talking them through the proper sequence of doors to take and soon we were all with Sir Alek and Kris examined him.
“He’s not starving,” Kris said. “I think that magic ring of his is feeding him. But he’s not well either.”
“Beware the unseen mark! Beware the eyes that kill!” Alek raved. “The angels – they sent me here.”
“Sir Alek,” Elizabeth commanded. “Snap out of it. They weren’t angels. You were deceived by an illusion.”
To my slight surprise, this actually seemed to bring him around a little. “They were… weren’t angels?”
“No,” she said flatly. “Now get up. We need your help.”
“Been here weeks,” he said, calming down.
The mirror from this side was solid and unpassable. The only way out was the large iron doors. From the scratches and marks, it seemed Sir Alek had tried to open them but simply lacked the strength.
Looking at the doors, Maris gasped. She saw another vision – smoking wings, a burning eye. And the large iron door that was already before us. She had the definite sense something unpleasant was beyond the doors.
As the girls braced to open the doors, Sir Alek yelled “He’s coming! He’s coming now!”
The girls exchanged a look and shrugged it off. And they heaved.
The doors opened to a large set of stairs rising up twenty feet. Standing casually at the top waited a large demon.
“At last! The Blue Tyger Legion brings my pretty to me. Tercival has been a good toy, but this ends now. You will die here in this desert alone and Tercival is not going anywhere. And now you will die.”
At least the costume party taught us how to recognize Nabthateron.
