Session 17 (Part One)
The Mystery Deepens
Shaken, but undeterred, the party followed the strange dwarf through the door. They found passages and rooms that mirrored those they had already traveled through. More statuary, more tapestries, more divans. Their course returned them to the majestic entry hall. After a short discussion, they moved up the shallow steps to the large double doors and pushed.
The doors slid open noiselessly on oiled hinges and revealed a soaring chamber. Four massive pillars supported a domed roof fifty or sixty paces above the floor. A massive statue, forty paces high, commanded the center of the room. The statue reflected dwarven features and radiated solemn strength. Sextus whistled between his teeth, “Impressive!”
They entered slowly and all felt a presence in the room. Quintus approached the statue and reached out a tentative hand. He jerked his hand back quickly after his fingertips brushed the surface. “It is warm to the touch!”
Sextus and Rowan followed the sorcerer’s lead, but Rosë and Lew hung back. The young barbarian struggled to understand the immensity of everything in the place and Lew was reluctant to lay hands on an idol to an unknown power. ‘Probably Moradin,’ the priest thought to himself, ‘but better safe than sorry!’
They noted some manner of balcony ten paces up. “Looks like there’s a second level,” Rowan called.
Quintus, mentally redrawing the floor plan in his head, responded, “The two doors in the large tapestry room…that’s probably how we get up there.”
The other’s nodded and moved towards a smaller, but no less ornate, set of double doors across from the one’s they had entered. Rowan pushed them open to reveal the room with the huge floor-to-ceiling tapestry. “Left or right?”
“Left.”
The ranger nodded and moved forward, the rest of the party trailing behind. Sextus paused and placed a solidus at the statues feet, mentally making an offering. He lingered for a moment to see if anything happened, then hurried after the others.
The portal opened inward, revealing steep stairs heading up. The stairs turned right, then ended on a small landing. Broader stairs continued up to the right to a larger landing and a set of metal double doors. Rowan pushed the doors open and was greeted by a horrific sight.
The chamber was thirty paces across and fifteen deep. A heavy purple curtain covered the far wall and numerous tapestries, sconces and candelabras adorned the perimeter of the room. The normalcy of the décor contrasted sharply with the macabre dance that occupied the rest of the room. Two score cadavers, in various states of decay, whirled about the room in a crazed waltz. Their limbs flailed, waving weapons wildly as they swirled to and fro.
One passed close by the door, a decaying gladius sweeping out. The blade flicked across Rowan’s forearm and seemed to pass through his flesh. The ranger cried out and stumbled back. He pulled his sleeve up, revealing a glowing white mark. “It burns!” he gasped.
Rowan felt a bit of his essence leak away from the wound and slumped slightly. He looked at the others, genuine fear reflected in his eyes. “We have to cross that?”
To Be Continued…
Next: Dance of the Dead
~ Old One
