On a Mission – Part II
Before they could go on, Bootsy stopped them. “These have been some tough characters. We may need all the muscle we can get. I found a few scrolls in the fortress. Two of them are Divine, but one is an Arcane Scroll of Dispel Magic. Maybe it’s powerful enough to get Tristan Back.” Pulling out the scrolls he gave two to Celtir and then raised the third and invoked its magic. In a flash, the tiny viper that was Tristan quickly reverted to his normal form. Just as quickly, the gnome was transformed into a tiny viper.
The companions stood silent for a moment before Wencis spoke up. “What just happened?”
Celtir bent over the new tiny viper in their midst to pick it up, but it lashed out at his hand, trying to sink its tiny teeth into the cleric. “It’s hard to be sure, but I think the scroll may have been cursed. While it did dispel the magic that was affecting Tristan, Bootsy seems to have fallen victim to the effect that was dispelled.”
Frankie looked down at the angry serpent. “Has his mind gone as well?”
Celtir was finally able to grab Bootsy just behind the head and the tiny snake finally relented. “No. He’s just pissed.”
As they gathered the gnomes equipment and Frankie shouldered the Haversack a new threat appeared. Flying out from behind a boulder was a floating orb with six eyestalks and a large central eye. Two beams lanced out at Wencis who was able to dodge them both. Frankie and Celtir quickly drew and fired their bows, both arrows barely grazing the creature. Wencis ran forward launching his hammer at the creature as Tristan took a moment to summon Moro to his side.
The creature fired two more beams at Wencis, one of them burning him slightly, though he was able to dodge the worst of it. The creature was pummeled by hammer and arrow once again as Moro suddenly appeared. The Celestial Dire Wolf leapt into the air and fastened its teeth into the hovering creature and bore it to the ground where the wolf savagely ripped it apart.
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Examining the large cave where the creature had come from, they found a strange sculpture at the back of the cave. A large golden rod supported an array of six smaller gems on rods of brass. A seventh, larger gem formed a centerpiece, also held in place by brass. The design of the piece resembled a beholder, though the sculptor seemingly ran out of material halfway through. The gold and gems were clearly of greater worth than the bits of brass used to bind them all together.
Wencis approached the sculpture to get a closer look. “I think this is the scepter we seek.” He tilted his head as he gazed at it. “Yes, the scepter has been used to make this sculpture. I think I might be able to reassemble it given time.”
The companions took a moment to assess the situation and their state of readiness. Celtir finally spoke up, “We can rest here. Perhaps you can reassemble the scepter while we’re here.”
Wencis nodded and got to work. Focusing his mind he reshaped his essentia into a pair of ghostly gloves and started to work on disassembling the strange artwork. He found it more difficult than he expected, and unused to this type of work ended up inadvertently snapping off a small piece of the scepter.
Hearing Wencis’ curse, Celtir stepped over. “I think I have a simple prayer that could mend that.” Bowing his head and holding the pieces together, the piece was reattached by the power of Solonor. Smiling in satisfaction, Celtir stepped back to allow Wencis to continue his work.
It was difficult and frustrating work, but Wencis finally was successful in disassembling the piece. Reassembling turned out to be another matter. Without knowing exactly how the scepter was shaped he was unable to put it back in any useable condition. Knowing he could not succeed, he sat down in frustration to try and get some rest.
Seeing Wencis’ unsuccessful attempt, Celtir tried to reassure him, “Perhaps it’s enough that it cannot be used in the ritual.”
Wencis just frowned and nodded.
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Returning to the fortress, the companions made ready to enter the next portal. Celtir murmured a quick prayer and there was a quick burst of light that filled the area and seemed to settle into each one of the companions. “According to Zoldathra this is the portal that takes us to another plane. This should protect us from any environment issues. Poisoned or lack of air, temperature extremes, that type of thing. Just remember you can still be hurt, gravity still affects you and magical affects will still harm you.” The others nodded and they all stepped through.
Instead of taking them to a new location as the other portals had, the green glow that wrapped around them suddenly flared. Every inch of their skin felt like it had been lanced with white hot needles even as their bones froze from the inside out. Just as they felt they could stand it no longer, they found themselves standing on cracked and broken earth. The portal behind them crackled and spit violently, its green light shot through with streaks of red.
Looking around, the companions saw huge boulders towering around them, half buried in the desiccated earth. As they started to move they noticed that no shadows marked the ground on the barren landscape. Above them the sky glowed a dull rust red with no clouds or sign of sun. A few dead trees dotted the landscape, while a dry streambed strewn with rocks cut through the ground ahead of them. Far beyond, sporadic hills marked the foot of a jagged black peak.
Frankie headed for on of the tall boulders nearby. “Maybe a birds-eye view would tell us which way to go.”
Having climbed up the side of the boulder with relative ease, Frankie got a good look around. The dry, cracked earth spread out in every direction with few notable features other than the mountain. Looking toward the mountain he saw movement in the streambed not far from his companions. Behind a pile of stones was a roiling dark mass of writhing tendrils. The creature was coming around the rocks and headed in their direction. Then, a little closer to his companions, a hideous creature stood and drew a bow. The creature was probably once a Yuan-Ti, but its eyes were empty pools of blackness and its limbs seemed abnormally long.
Before Frankie could even react to what he saw, the Yuan-Ti let fly two arrows. One barely scratched his left arm, the other would have pierced his heart had he not spun when the arrow struck, causing it to glance off his armor and pierce his left arm instead. Yelling to his friends he quickly snapped off the arrow tip and pulled out the arrow even as he was sliding down the boulder to the ground.
As the companions spread out and advance on the approaching enemy they noticed some strange effects. Celtir and Frankie found themselves standing in a location some distance from where they intended to be, as if they had somehow shifted from where they had been. As Wencis approached the Yuan-Ti he sudden felt the ground beneath him shift and drop away and he dropped into a pit that had not been there a moment ago. Arrows from Frankie and Celtir still pierced the Yuan-Ti. While the creature bled freely from its wounds it showed no sign slowing and quickly retaliated with two more shots that barely missed Frankie yet again. Preparing to climb out of the pit, Wencis suddenly found himself back on the surface a short distance from the pit. Raising his hammer he threw it at writhing mass of tentacles as Tristan charged the creature, slashing it with Merthuvial. The creature quickly snatched up Tristan in one of its tentacles and started to squeeze. As the creature lifted him from the ground, a pit opened beneath Tristan’s feet. Had the creature not lifted him into the air, Tristan would have surely dropped into the pit. Dropping his bow for a weapon he was much more comfortable using, Frankie ran up and slashed through the writhing blackness with his axe. The mass seemed to lose its cohesion and slowly dissipated, dropping Tristan to the ground next to the pit. Two more arrows from Celtir and an electrically charged hammer from Wencis quickly dropped the Yuan-Ti.
Once the combat ended, the random effects seemed to decrease in intensity for a bit and the companions were able to organize a search of the Yuan-Ti’s body. On his body they found the stone tablet, the last item on their list of artifacts.
Now the companions found themselves wondering what to do with them. The tablet radiated evil, but did not appear to be magical. Noting that the random effects were becoming more prevalent once more, Celtir magically shaped a nearby stone to look like the tablet, in case they should need a decoy, and then they stepped back through the portal.
Unwilling to return to face whatever Zoldathra had planned for them at less than full strength, the companions went back through the portal that led to the cave where they found the scepter to rest.
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