drnuncheon
Explorer
Session Fourteen, Part Eight: The Temple of Yig
Phew...this has been a long one...one more to go, I think!
Foul, stale air seeped out from the long-sealed temple. Varesh wrinkled his nose and crouched, the wickedly curved knife Dru had bought for him appearing in one clawed hand. "Serpents," he muttered. "Death."
"There's nothing moving," said Dru. "Garto?"
"Not a damn thing. Let's go."
Cautiously, the foursome crept into the chamber beyond the door. It formed a rough circle, and in the center was a marble statue: an enormous serpent.
"Looks like the right place," Di'Fier joked, but his words seemed flat in the dusty air.
Dru raised her glowing dagger higher, sending the blue light farther into the room. The walls were covered, as the outside wall had been, with a mural depicting the legend of Yig. But unlike the outside, these murals had been defaced: Valossan words scrawled in red ink, repeated all around the room.
"'Beware, brethren'," Garto translated, "'for Yig will abandon us.'" Looking around at the room, he snorted. "Looks like whoever wrote that was right." He kicked at the dust on the floor.
"I think I've found the way down." Di'Fier stood at the top of a ramp which plunged into dark, unknown waters. "Looks like we get wet." He pulled out a second sealed scroll tube and broke the seal, withdrawing a sheet of waxed paper. "Varesh, Garto, time to learn how to breathe like a fish."
The words of the spell rang out and died away, and the magic settled into the lungs of dwarf and rat-man. One by one, the companions filed down the ramp into the dank, still water.
Dru let the water close over her head. She hated the first breath underwater, the feeling of the water flooding into her nose and lungs, the instinctive panic of drowning. She hadn't had time to think about it the last time...
She shook her head, and a glint of light caught her eye. She strained to see through the murky water. Was that gold? The others were already at another ramp, heading deeper. She took a step forward, then stopped. There was something else. A dark tenebrous shape, moving in the water. Two quick strokes brought her to Di'Fier's side, and the group started down the next ramp.
Her foot broke through the bottom of the water and hit solid ground. What the...? But it had happened. As she took another step, her other foot did the same...then her knees, her legs...ducking down, her face broke the surface as well. A reverse surface. The water hung suspended above the ramp, with no means of support. She bent and let the water pour from her lungs in a steady stream, thoroughly wetting a dusty pillow.
She straightened, and the others did the same, to look at their new surroundings. Like the rooms above, this one was a circle, but it was lined with craved serpent heads holding ephemeral balls of light between their fangs. To one end of the room was a marble altar...and in front of it was a shadowy shape, bowing and gesturing towards a jade bowl.
Hands went to weapons, and the creature turned - but it did not attack. Dru could see Varesh's hackles raise, and knew how he felt - not only was the creature a serpentman, but it bore a disturbing resemblance to the shadow-creatures she and Di'Fier had fought in the asylum. And this time, there's no Paden to cast them back, she thought.
The shadow serpent regardedthem for a moment, one hand outstretched - then it pulled back, as if remembering what its touch could do. "At lasst...at lasst, living ssoulss are come to help uss..."
Varesh crouched, kukri gripped tightly, and hissed.
"Alisstar iss my name," the serpent began. "The high priesst I wass of thiss temple. Ssince the day of desstruction, by brethrenhave wandered thesse hallss...doomed to exisst for all time, to live withour failure..."
"We seek the Jade Serpent," Di'Fier said, stepping forward. "Our city is in great danger from the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, and a prophecy said that only the Jade Serpent could save it."
"Yess, yess...the propheciess of Yig..." The shadowy head bobbed and weaved. "If you help uss, if you break our cursse, then I will give you what you sseek."
"What sort of help?" Dru asked suspiciously. She was glad that Varesh didn't understand enough Common to follow the conversation. She suspected he would be all in favor of leaving the Valossans to rot.
"Four relicss I need...a ritual...to atone to Yig of our crimess. Four relicss of the Serpent...Sscaless, Venom, Fangss, and Amulet."
"And if we find them, you will give us the Jade Serpent of Yig?" Di'Fier pressed.
"Yess...the Sserpent will be yourss to ssave your city."
"I saw something in the water, up on the second floor," said Dru as they walked down the ramp. "That might have been one of these relics."
"All right. We'll look for it after we search the rest of the temple," her partner replied. "For now, we go down." They reached the bottom of the ramp, which opened onto a curved hallway. A door was set into the left side of the hall. "All right, who gets to open it?"
Dru reached over and shoved the door open. Dusty, half-rotted pillows were strewn about the room...but there was something more. Four shadow-shapes rose from the pillows...and unlike Alisstar, they did not look friendly.
"Sh-t!" bellowed Garto as the things flew towards them, taking no notice of furniture...or walls. Blades flashed, but the incorporeal touch of the shadow-creatures could not be parried - as Dru discovered when her arm chilled and her grip faltered.
Di'Fier was already chanting, calling on mystic forces to protect him, when Garto fumbled a scroll from his bag. A quick calculation as he unrolled it, and a pained expression crossed his face. "Sorry, Dru!" he bellowed, and then his gutteral words coalesced into a gleaming red jewel that shot past her to impact against the far wall...and explode into fire.
Dru picked herself up off the ground, clutching her rapier tightly. Her hands, her face, every exposed bit of skin felt tight and painful, and there was a distinct smell of charred hair. I'm going to kill him, she thought, diving past one of the shadow-shapes and slicing it deeply en passant. She whirled to see Di'Fier's own blade put an end to it, then looked for more.
They were all gone, presumably victims of the same fireball that had toasted her. Ok, maybe it did some good,[/u] she decided. Still hurts like a b-tch. She glared down at the dwarf. "Never again."
He shrugged, with a grin. "Hey...yer lived through it."
"It wasn't a request."
"Go."
The door crashed open. Di'Fier's voice rang out and a sizzling green arrow arched through the air to slam into the ghostly shape before them. An instant later, Varesh's claw tore through the ethereal fabric of the creature, causing it to howl in pain.
How the hell did he do that? Di'Fier wondered, as the dun ray of Garto's disrupt undead passed over the wraith's shoulder. The dwarf swore, and Di'Fier lifted his sword. Arcane strength filled his muscles, and he stepped forward. His sword crashed down as its claw passed through his flesh and tore into his lifeforce.
The tearing pain made him stumble, and he looked up to see Varesh tearing at the thing as Dru hurled a vial towards it. The liquid tore great, smoking holes in the thing's body, and it shredded like old cloth.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this," Di'Fier said as he straightened up.
Dru frowned down at the smoking remnants. "What I don't understand is why the undead like to compartmentalize themselves. This thing was different from the other ones we fought, and it's in a different place. That ogre in the asylum was trying to separate the skeletons from the zombies, too. Is it just some kind of instinct?"
Di'Fier looked at Garto, who shrugged helplessly.
"Go."
The room was curved, following the outside edge of the temple. A mosaic covered the walls: a serpent, coiling around the room, its head at the far end. Di'Fier stepped into the room, his eyes looking at the serpent, following its length...and then locking with the serpent's own.
The soft green glow seemed to expand to fill his vision. There are intruders, it seemed to say to him. You must slay them before they defile the temple. He could feel his sword-arm raising...
"Don't look at the eyes!" he cried, throwing his other arm in front of his face. "They're casting some kind of spell!" As he blocked his vision, the green glow faded from his mind, leaving him in control once more. Shaking his head, he cautiously opened his eyes once more. So far, so good.
Careful to avoid looking at the mosaic's eyes, the others entered, fanningout to search the room. "Nothing," Dru complained. "We've been through nearly this entire floor and we haven't found a single relic."
"Hrm. The Way of Yig," Garto said, his hand tracing over the book. "Could be interesting." The tome vanished into his sack. "Anything else? No? Let's go."
"OK...go!"
The door flew open, revealing some kind of training gymnasium. Across the room, glinting in the dim light, was a scaled suit of armor, fitted to a Valossan. A spear rested in its hand.
"Hot damn," Garto said. "The Scales of the Serpent." He took a step into the room, and the armor turned. "ohsh-t."
Darkness flickered in the eyesockets of the armor's helm as the armor took up a fighting stance. Lightning crackled around the spear as it raised its other hand and impudently gestured them forward. "Come, young ones. Come for your lesson," it mocked. "You must be strong to fight for Yig."
Phew...this has been a long one...one more to go, I think!
Foul, stale air seeped out from the long-sealed temple. Varesh wrinkled his nose and crouched, the wickedly curved knife Dru had bought for him appearing in one clawed hand. "Serpents," he muttered. "Death."
"There's nothing moving," said Dru. "Garto?"
"Not a damn thing. Let's go."
Cautiously, the foursome crept into the chamber beyond the door. It formed a rough circle, and in the center was a marble statue: an enormous serpent.
"Looks like the right place," Di'Fier joked, but his words seemed flat in the dusty air.
Dru raised her glowing dagger higher, sending the blue light farther into the room. The walls were covered, as the outside wall had been, with a mural depicting the legend of Yig. But unlike the outside, these murals had been defaced: Valossan words scrawled in red ink, repeated all around the room.
"'Beware, brethren'," Garto translated, "'for Yig will abandon us.'" Looking around at the room, he snorted. "Looks like whoever wrote that was right." He kicked at the dust on the floor.
"I think I've found the way down." Di'Fier stood at the top of a ramp which plunged into dark, unknown waters. "Looks like we get wet." He pulled out a second sealed scroll tube and broke the seal, withdrawing a sheet of waxed paper. "Varesh, Garto, time to learn how to breathe like a fish."
The words of the spell rang out and died away, and the magic settled into the lungs of dwarf and rat-man. One by one, the companions filed down the ramp into the dank, still water.
Dru let the water close over her head. She hated the first breath underwater, the feeling of the water flooding into her nose and lungs, the instinctive panic of drowning. She hadn't had time to think about it the last time...
She shook her head, and a glint of light caught her eye. She strained to see through the murky water. Was that gold? The others were already at another ramp, heading deeper. She took a step forward, then stopped. There was something else. A dark tenebrous shape, moving in the water. Two quick strokes brought her to Di'Fier's side, and the group started down the next ramp.
Her foot broke through the bottom of the water and hit solid ground. What the...? But it had happened. As she took another step, her other foot did the same...then her knees, her legs...ducking down, her face broke the surface as well. A reverse surface. The water hung suspended above the ramp, with no means of support. She bent and let the water pour from her lungs in a steady stream, thoroughly wetting a dusty pillow.
She straightened, and the others did the same, to look at their new surroundings. Like the rooms above, this one was a circle, but it was lined with craved serpent heads holding ephemeral balls of light between their fangs. To one end of the room was a marble altar...and in front of it was a shadowy shape, bowing and gesturing towards a jade bowl.
Hands went to weapons, and the creature turned - but it did not attack. Dru could see Varesh's hackles raise, and knew how he felt - not only was the creature a serpentman, but it bore a disturbing resemblance to the shadow-creatures she and Di'Fier had fought in the asylum. And this time, there's no Paden to cast them back, she thought.
The shadow serpent regardedthem for a moment, one hand outstretched - then it pulled back, as if remembering what its touch could do. "At lasst...at lasst, living ssoulss are come to help uss..."
Varesh crouched, kukri gripped tightly, and hissed.
"Alisstar iss my name," the serpent began. "The high priesst I wass of thiss temple. Ssince the day of desstruction, by brethrenhave wandered thesse hallss...doomed to exisst for all time, to live withour failure..."
"We seek the Jade Serpent," Di'Fier said, stepping forward. "Our city is in great danger from the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, and a prophecy said that only the Jade Serpent could save it."
"Yess, yess...the propheciess of Yig..." The shadowy head bobbed and weaved. "If you help uss, if you break our cursse, then I will give you what you sseek."
"What sort of help?" Dru asked suspiciously. She was glad that Varesh didn't understand enough Common to follow the conversation. She suspected he would be all in favor of leaving the Valossans to rot.
"Four relicss I need...a ritual...to atone to Yig of our crimess. Four relicss of the Serpent...Sscaless, Venom, Fangss, and Amulet."
"And if we find them, you will give us the Jade Serpent of Yig?" Di'Fier pressed.
"Yess...the Sserpent will be yourss to ssave your city."
"I saw something in the water, up on the second floor," said Dru as they walked down the ramp. "That might have been one of these relics."
"All right. We'll look for it after we search the rest of the temple," her partner replied. "For now, we go down." They reached the bottom of the ramp, which opened onto a curved hallway. A door was set into the left side of the hall. "All right, who gets to open it?"
Dru reached over and shoved the door open. Dusty, half-rotted pillows were strewn about the room...but there was something more. Four shadow-shapes rose from the pillows...and unlike Alisstar, they did not look friendly.
"Sh-t!" bellowed Garto as the things flew towards them, taking no notice of furniture...or walls. Blades flashed, but the incorporeal touch of the shadow-creatures could not be parried - as Dru discovered when her arm chilled and her grip faltered.
Di'Fier was already chanting, calling on mystic forces to protect him, when Garto fumbled a scroll from his bag. A quick calculation as he unrolled it, and a pained expression crossed his face. "Sorry, Dru!" he bellowed, and then his gutteral words coalesced into a gleaming red jewel that shot past her to impact against the far wall...and explode into fire.
Dru picked herself up off the ground, clutching her rapier tightly. Her hands, her face, every exposed bit of skin felt tight and painful, and there was a distinct smell of charred hair. I'm going to kill him, she thought, diving past one of the shadow-shapes and slicing it deeply en passant. She whirled to see Di'Fier's own blade put an end to it, then looked for more.
They were all gone, presumably victims of the same fireball that had toasted her. Ok, maybe it did some good,[/u] she decided. Still hurts like a b-tch. She glared down at the dwarf. "Never again."
He shrugged, with a grin. "Hey...yer lived through it."
"It wasn't a request."
"Go."
The door crashed open. Di'Fier's voice rang out and a sizzling green arrow arched through the air to slam into the ghostly shape before them. An instant later, Varesh's claw tore through the ethereal fabric of the creature, causing it to howl in pain.
How the hell did he do that? Di'Fier wondered, as the dun ray of Garto's disrupt undead passed over the wraith's shoulder. The dwarf swore, and Di'Fier lifted his sword. Arcane strength filled his muscles, and he stepped forward. His sword crashed down as its claw passed through his flesh and tore into his lifeforce.
The tearing pain made him stumble, and he looked up to see Varesh tearing at the thing as Dru hurled a vial towards it. The liquid tore great, smoking holes in the thing's body, and it shredded like old cloth.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this," Di'Fier said as he straightened up.
Dru frowned down at the smoking remnants. "What I don't understand is why the undead like to compartmentalize themselves. This thing was different from the other ones we fought, and it's in a different place. That ogre in the asylum was trying to separate the skeletons from the zombies, too. Is it just some kind of instinct?"
Di'Fier looked at Garto, who shrugged helplessly.
"Go."
The room was curved, following the outside edge of the temple. A mosaic covered the walls: a serpent, coiling around the room, its head at the far end. Di'Fier stepped into the room, his eyes looking at the serpent, following its length...and then locking with the serpent's own.
The soft green glow seemed to expand to fill his vision. There are intruders, it seemed to say to him. You must slay them before they defile the temple. He could feel his sword-arm raising...
"Don't look at the eyes!" he cried, throwing his other arm in front of his face. "They're casting some kind of spell!" As he blocked his vision, the green glow faded from his mind, leaving him in control once more. Shaking his head, he cautiously opened his eyes once more. So far, so good.
Careful to avoid looking at the mosaic's eyes, the others entered, fanningout to search the room. "Nothing," Dru complained. "We've been through nearly this entire floor and we haven't found a single relic."
"Hrm. The Way of Yig," Garto said, his hand tracing over the book. "Could be interesting." The tome vanished into his sack. "Anything else? No? Let's go."
"OK...go!"
The door flew open, revealing some kind of training gymnasium. Across the room, glinting in the dim light, was a scaled suit of armor, fitted to a Valossan. A spear rested in its hand.
"Hot damn," Garto said. "The Scales of the Serpent." He took a step into the room, and the armor turned. "ohsh-t."
Darkness flickered in the eyesockets of the armor's helm as the armor took up a fighting stance. Lightning crackled around the spear as it raised its other hand and impudently gestured them forward. "Come, young ones. Come for your lesson," it mocked. "You must be strong to fight for Yig."
