JollyDoc
Explorer
The Return Of The Scions
5 Calistril, 4715
Before following Kelda's lead to whoever or whatever the "ten-handed one" was, the companions decided to explore the rest of the dungeon level first. They back-tracked to the kitchen, and from there took the northern door, which led them to a small, low-ceilinged cavern, filled with a tangle of stalactites and stalagmites. Boris's sharp eyes found a hidden exit on the far side, which gave onto a winding passage that eventually led to another cavern, partially water-filled, with an opening leading outside to the bay.
Returning once more to the kitchen, the group opened another door on the western side. The door was stuck and water-swollen, but a strong nudge from Haroldo sent it slamming open. Beyond, a foul-smelling chamber dripped with moisture that ran down the walls in rivulets amid thick tangles of nasty-looking fungus. Three washing bins in the walls were completely clogged with heaps of even more repulsive molds and mushrooms, some of which had grown to prodigious size, including two large mounds of green mold sprouting dozens of purple-capped mushrooms in the rooms center. As the group prepared to enter, Piotr abruptly stopped them.
"Tread carefully," he muttered. "Those are phycomids. They are carnivorous fungi. Their stalks secrete a caustic acid. Stand back"
He wove his magic, and a column of black motes streamed down on the first mound. The two phycomids began to twitch and writhe, but before they could attack, the group jumped into action. Lucian and Shalelu opened fire with their bows, while Koman, Kelda, Haroldo and Yannus swarmed into the room and slashed the fungi to pieces within a matter of seconds.
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The laundry room turned out to be a dead-end, so the companions moved towards the only remaining exit from the kitchen. It opened onto a large mess hall, where long benches in various states of disrepair and several battered and filthy wooden tables stood between stone pillars. The air reeked of reptiles, wafting in nauseous waves of the half-dozen troglodytes that stood about the room. They were tense, and wary, as if they'd been waiting for the trespassers, but Boris was in motion before the first of them could move. He darted past and behind the nearest trog, and buried one of his swords in the brute's scaly belly. With a grunt, the trog folded double and collapsed, bleeding to the floor.
Shalelu knelt by the door and picked her targets, while Lucian stood above her, following his mentor's lead. In the room, one of the trogs moved behind Boris, and clubbed the goblin behind his ear with its cudgel, while another rushed to meet Mazael as the big war priest muscled his way in. Kelda rushed to his side, hurling Ulfen epithets as her blade flashed around her in a blur, and Koman moved among the trogs, striking with uncanny precision. One by one, the troglodytes fell to the heroes, though their stench lingered on.
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Beyond the mess hall, the group stumbled upon a abandoned armory, mostly empty but still with some salvageable arms and armor. A short hall led from there to what looked to be some sort of arena. The middle of the chamber sagged in a bowl-like depression, leaving a narrow ring of level ground around the perimeter. Remnants of a low wooden railing marked the edge of the depression, but most of it had collapsed. A large chair sat in the center of the chamber next to a table heaped with doubtful-looking cuts of rancid meat. Seated upon this make-shift throne was a particularly large troglodyte, with a wicked-looking iron morningstar laid across his legs. Arrayed protectively in front of him, were four female trogs who hissed menacingly as the companions entered the room.
The troglodyte chief grinned evilly as he rose slowly to his feet, and directed his harem to attack. His smile turned quickly to shock and pain as Yannus held forth his holy symbol, and a burst of holy radiance filled the room. The chief and two of the females shrieked and clawed at their eyes, blinded from the brilliant blast, and their skin boiled and blistered from the heat. In an instant, Kelda leaped across the room, her eyes flashing with murder. She slashed her sword downward, opening the chieftain from throat to groin. Coughing and gurgling, the big trog collapsed back onto his throne. Boris took advantage of the chaos to slip his sword blades through the ribs of the nearest female, silencing her screams in an instant. The lethal goblin then whirled away and drove his sword into the throat of one of the blinded trogs, putting her down as well. Haroldo, Yannus and Kelda finished made short work of the remaining two.
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Brinewall Keep lay empty...except for whatever horror still awaited them deep in the bowels of the dungeon. The creature that apparently held the key to the vault the concealed the secret of Ameiko's heritage. Kelda led the way through twisting passages, until at last they came to an intricate iron screen that blocked further progress into a large chamber beyond. A wooden door painted with the image of a tall, beautiful blue-skinned woman seated on a throne stood in the middle of the screen. It was Pharasma, the goddess of the dead. Past the screen, the room stretched dozens of feet to the east, supported by stone pillars, and with deep funerary alcoves on either side. The far end of the chamber seemed to have partially collapsed into a large cavern in which faintly glowing motes of light swirled and danced in the air.
Cautiously, the companions opened the door and entered the crypt. They had taken no more than a few steps, when a ghostly image of the same woman painted on the door, suddenly appeared out of thin air, floating at the far end of the chamber.
"Be at peace," the goddess said. "You are in no danger here. Lay down your weapons and come to me. I shall grant each of you a boon."
Mazael started forward, sheathing his sword as he went.
"What are you doing?" Yannus hissed at him.
"Pharasma is calling to us," the war priest shrugged, looking over his shoulder.
Koman put away his sword as well and began to follow.
"Can't you see it's an illusion?" Yannus snapped as he grabbed his brother's arm
"Pretty," Boris said as he palmed both of his daggers into his sleeves and started after the others.
Yannus cursed and went after the others, though he gripped his glaive firmly in his hands. Haroldo and Piotr came along, though Luician hung back at a gesture from Shalelu, and Kelda showed no sign of going anywhere near the floating image of the goddess.
At the far end of the crypt, the floor simply ended, and a vast cavern opened up in the darkness beyond. The floor descended in two twenty-foot drops into a large, eerie grotto. The walls dripped with moisture and bore strange and disturbing cave paintings of towering four-winged humanoid shapes. Tiny motes of glowing light continued to drift and bob in the air, giving the place an almost nauseating feeling, as if the cavern were viewed through a dreamlike haze. As the companions gathered at the edge of the drop off, the image of Pharasma abruptly vanished, and a creature out of a nightmare rose slowly into view, it's leathery wings beating the air. It had a slimy, mollusk-like body, complete with ten tentacles, two of which ended in savage claws, and a monstrous face. As it reached a height level with the ledge upon which the heroes stood, it spoke, it's voice like bones cracking, its words filthy and unintelligible, and a darkness as black as night spread from out from it, enveloping them all.
Most of the companions groped about blindly, though Boris could still see in the darkness, as could Mazael, thanks to his celestial heritage. So it was that only the two of them saw the creature unleash its next assault. It spat its savage words again, and a greasy cloud of cloying, sickening coldness washed over them. The cried out in pain as the unholy blight seemed to siphon away a bit of their souls, and Yannus and Piotr doubled over, becoming physically ill. Boris knelt down and pulled his bow, taking careful aim. He loosed, and his arrow flew true, but when it struck the abomination, it simply bounced off its thick shell. Then Shalelu was beside him, cocking her head as she listened in the darkness, seeking her target. Before she could act, however, the fiendish decapus drew a slender wand from its tentacles and sent a scorching ray of fire at her.
"I have an idea!" Piotr shouted.
He fished around in his pack until he found what he was looking for: the strange weapon that Kikonu had wielded. He began to whirl the ball and chain section around his head, creating a constant buzzing sound. A moment later, an enormous wasp simply appeared above his head.
'Slay my enemy,' the sorcerer mentally commanded the creature and, it's compound eyes more than adapted for darkness, it flew towards the abomination, it wings humming angrily. It reached the decapus and jabbed its stinger through its shell and into its flesh. The creature bellowed in pain and fury, and lashed out at the wasp with tooth, claw and tentacle. Shalelu's ears honed in on the sounds of the conflict and, ignoring the sting of her burns, she bent her bow and let fly, smiling slightly to herself as she head the arrow strike home.
Haroldo also had an idea, though he didn't feel the need to brag about it like the pompous sorcerer. He felt his way towards the edge of the drop off, and began to lower himself over the side. In the darkness, however, he misjudged his footing and slipped, plummeting the twenty feet to the first ledge below. Cursing, he scrambled to his feet, rage filling him. His anger fueled the innate magic that rested just below the surface and, calling upon it, his body began to shift, growing rapidly to twice his normal his size. He ran towards the far wall and began to climb, his hands and feet sticking to the surface like a spider.
The battle between the decapus and the wasp continued to rage, and with its next barrage of tentacles and claws, the abomination destroyed the giant insect, sending it back to the plane from which it had been summoned. Still, it gave Shalelu time to draw another bead, and this time she loosed first one of the flaming arrows she'd taken from Zaiobe, and then followed with a special arrow she'd been saving...one specially designed for demon-spawn. When the two shafts struck the decapus, it shrieked in agony, clawing and biting at the arrows as they seared its flesh. It brandished its wand again, and another blazing fire bolt struck Shalelu, sending her scrambling for cover.
Down below, as Haroldo continue to scale the wall behind the decapus, it finally took notice of him, and sent a scorching ray his way as well. The giant blood rager took the blast full-on, grimaced in pain, and kept climbing. He reached the creature's level and, while still gripping the wall with his feet and one hand, drew a longsword from the scabbard at his side. The decapus screamed at him, and beat at him with its razor claws, while sinking its fangs into his shoulder. At this point, Haroldo was fully engulfed in the darkness, and fighting blind, though he could tell where the attacks were coming from. Crying out in rage and desperation, he swung his blade with all his might, and felt it bite deeply into the flesh of the fiendish abomination. He heard its screams suddenly cut short, then heard it fall heavily to the ground below. Feeling his strength ebbing, he scrambled rapidly back down to the floor of the grotto, and then proceeded to collapse into unconsciousness from fatigue and blood loss.
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In the aftermath of the battle, Lucian quickly rushed to Haroldo's side and proceeded to heal the warrior's wounds, while the others climbed down the ledges to ensure their opponent was well and truly dead. Secreted within the stalagmites of the grotto floor, they found a small trove of treasures and valuables that the creature had been hoarding. Among the items, Koman's eyes instantly fell upon a familiar looking item...a compass with a small hollow, just large enough to hold a tiny stone or gem.
"It's a wayfinder," he breathed. "The Pathfinders use them. I saw them do amazing things when I studied with them."
He reverently tucked the box into his belt.
Also among the treasure was a stone statuette depicting a a bird-headed, four-winged humanoid with its right arm extended. Piotr saw it first, and felt strangely drawn to it. He reached down and picked it up, and immediately felt an invigorating sense of confidence come over him. At the same time, however, he felt oddly sluggish and weighted down. Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it...
The last item of interest, was a darkwood and silver disc decorated with an intricate etching of Brinewall under the midnight moon. It was the second key to the vault.
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Before breaching the vault, the exhausted and wounded heroes decided to return to the cemetery and rest. Spivey was thrilled to see them, and to hear of their defeat of the evil within Brinewall. She gladly tended their wounds while she chatted away excitedly. As the day wore on, and they recuperated, the sound of approaching hoofbeats interrupted their reverie. Turning towards the cemetery gates, they saw Sandru galloping in on horseback.
"I'm glad to find you here," he said as he dismounted. "Ameiko spoke again less than an hour ago. She said, 'Grandfather waits in the dark, but he knows not who he was.' Does that mean anything to you?"
"We found the second key to the vault," Yannus replied. "Ameiko's grandfather, Rokuro, said in his letter that he would die defending whatever this family heirloom is. Perhaps some part of him still waits there."
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The following morning, the companions returned to Brinewall keep for the last time. They made their way back down to the vault, and placed both discs into their respective slots. Immediately, the iron bars of the portcullis slowly slid down into the floor. The walls of the room beyond were smooth stone, spattered with ancient bloodstains and deep, violent gouges. Deep drifts of dust lay on the floor, while immense stone doors hung open on the far side, revealing empty vaults beyond. Suddenly, the dust swirled into the air, coalescing into an ominous shadowy form that took on the ghostly image of an old but handsome Tian man. The spirit adopted a defensive pose, his katana held before him menacingly.
"Rokuro Kaijitsu!" Yannus called out, stepping forward boldly. "We have come here with your granddaughter, Ameiko. We have come to help her reclaim your family's honor."
The wraith's eyes bulged, and he froze, motionless. He lowered his sword, and then spoke, his voice low and mournful.
"I...know...this...naaaaaammmmmeeeeee...!"
A moment later, he raised his arms and cried out in anguish, then turned and faced the companions, tears of dust running down his incorporeal cheeks.
"Take the Seal away from here," he said. "Take it to my child. It is no longer safe...and I am no longer worth of guarding it..."
He pointed towards a spot on one blank wall, then, with another agonized cry, he flew apart into dust once more.
It didn't take long for Boris to find the hidden door that Rokuro had indicated. The chamber it opened onto appeared to be only half-excavated, one portion of it remaining a rough cavern wall. Three identical darkwood chests bound with bronze sat against the base of that wall. The three chests were locked, but Boris had no trouble unlocking the first two. Inside these were several items of arms, armor and magical trinkets. As the companions gazed upon them, each felt drawn to a specific item. The drew them forth, and instantly knew that each item had been created specifically for them. The heroes instinctively knew as well that each item contained a unique guardian spirit known as a kami. This spirit imparted to each of them the knowledge that, if they were willing to make an appropriate sacrifice, the kami could make their items even more powerful over time.
As Boris approached the final chest, it simply unlatched and opened, as if it had been waiting. The only item inside was an ornate box decorated with draconic designs, containing three compartments. Only one of those compartments was occupied. It contained a stone statuette of a dragon. As the companions gazed upon this strange totem, their vision began to cloud, and all of them collapsed to the floor. In an instant, their unconscious minds were filled with visions. They saw an army of terrible fiends, with burning skin, glaring eyes, and sharp tusks, wearing strange armor and wielding exotic weapons, emerge in a storm from a vast forest, and then descend upon a nation populated by Tian people.
This vision was swiftly followed by another: a young man dressed in royal robes stood over a simple well, a friend at his side. Suddenly, the friend grew nearly three times in size and was sheathed in a frightening suit of jade armor. The jade warrior drew a sword and struck down his royal friend, then held the bloody sword aloft in triumph.
A third vision followed, this time of a young Tian man handing a beautiful sword to a richly dressed Ulfen man in exchange for a bag of gold.
Finally, the vision faded, and the companions saw their friend Ameiko waking from her deep sleep, but she was dressed in the finery of an empress. She rose from sleep, not in a humble Varisian caravan, but from a resting spot within the arms of a jade throne.
The visions passed in the span of a few heartbeats, and when they had, the heroes awoke once more. The visions had left indelible knowledge in their minds: they knew that the land they saw invaded by fiends was called Minkai; they knew that the man they saw murdered by the jade warrior was Emperor Shigure of Minkai; they knew that Ameiko Kaijitsu's true family name was Amatatsu, one of the five royal families of Minkai; they recognized the young Tian man with the sword as Ameiko's grandfather, Rokuro Kaijitsu, formerly Amatatsu Tsutoku, selling the family's legendary sword Suishen to the Ulfen merchant Fynn Snaevald in the city of Kalsgard to finance his family's flight and exile; they knew that Suishen was intelligent, and could impart much more knowledge of the Amatatsu family's legacy if recovered; they knew that Ameiko herself was the heir of her line; and finally, they knew the power of the stone statuette, the Amatatsu Seal, and its warding box.
The Amatatsu Seal was one of five royal seals of Minkai, and represented the Amatatsu family's divine right to rule the empire of Minkai. Should no Amatatsus of pure blood be able to take up that charge, the Seal could invest the right to rule as an Amatatsu in any number of living, humanoid hosts, making them Amatatsu scions. The companions understood that the Seal had indeed invested each of them as just such a scion. The Seal had healing powers as well, and it revealed these to the heroes. In fact, Piotr instantly knew that the bird statue he had claimed was cursed, and would eventually corrupt his soul. The Amatatsu Seal unmade this curse, and the statue fell to the floor and crumbled to dust. They also were aware that the Seal radiated strong magic, and those with the proper resources could sense this magic across oceans and continents, allowing it to be tracked across any distance. Originally, this was meant to allow its rightful owners to track it if it were stolen, but this also made it vulnerable to tracking from enemies who might be seeking it. This was the purpose of the warding box. As long as it was closed, and the Seal contained within, no amount of divination could find it. Lastly, the Seal made it known that it could never be transported by teleportation magic or dimensional travel. It could not be taken from the Material Plane save via special portals blessed by the gods, and those who carried the Seal could neither cast nor otherwise use teleportation effects. This was meant to protect the Seal from being easily stolen, but it also meant that, if the Seal were to be returned to Minkai, it was going to be a very long journey.
5 Calistril, 4715
Before following Kelda's lead to whoever or whatever the "ten-handed one" was, the companions decided to explore the rest of the dungeon level first. They back-tracked to the kitchen, and from there took the northern door, which led them to a small, low-ceilinged cavern, filled with a tangle of stalactites and stalagmites. Boris's sharp eyes found a hidden exit on the far side, which gave onto a winding passage that eventually led to another cavern, partially water-filled, with an opening leading outside to the bay.
Returning once more to the kitchen, the group opened another door on the western side. The door was stuck and water-swollen, but a strong nudge from Haroldo sent it slamming open. Beyond, a foul-smelling chamber dripped with moisture that ran down the walls in rivulets amid thick tangles of nasty-looking fungus. Three washing bins in the walls were completely clogged with heaps of even more repulsive molds and mushrooms, some of which had grown to prodigious size, including two large mounds of green mold sprouting dozens of purple-capped mushrooms in the rooms center. As the group prepared to enter, Piotr abruptly stopped them.
"Tread carefully," he muttered. "Those are phycomids. They are carnivorous fungi. Their stalks secrete a caustic acid. Stand back"
He wove his magic, and a column of black motes streamed down on the first mound. The two phycomids began to twitch and writhe, but before they could attack, the group jumped into action. Lucian and Shalelu opened fire with their bows, while Koman, Kelda, Haroldo and Yannus swarmed into the room and slashed the fungi to pieces within a matter of seconds.
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The laundry room turned out to be a dead-end, so the companions moved towards the only remaining exit from the kitchen. It opened onto a large mess hall, where long benches in various states of disrepair and several battered and filthy wooden tables stood between stone pillars. The air reeked of reptiles, wafting in nauseous waves of the half-dozen troglodytes that stood about the room. They were tense, and wary, as if they'd been waiting for the trespassers, but Boris was in motion before the first of them could move. He darted past and behind the nearest trog, and buried one of his swords in the brute's scaly belly. With a grunt, the trog folded double and collapsed, bleeding to the floor.
Shalelu knelt by the door and picked her targets, while Lucian stood above her, following his mentor's lead. In the room, one of the trogs moved behind Boris, and clubbed the goblin behind his ear with its cudgel, while another rushed to meet Mazael as the big war priest muscled his way in. Kelda rushed to his side, hurling Ulfen epithets as her blade flashed around her in a blur, and Koman moved among the trogs, striking with uncanny precision. One by one, the troglodytes fell to the heroes, though their stench lingered on.
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Beyond the mess hall, the group stumbled upon a abandoned armory, mostly empty but still with some salvageable arms and armor. A short hall led from there to what looked to be some sort of arena. The middle of the chamber sagged in a bowl-like depression, leaving a narrow ring of level ground around the perimeter. Remnants of a low wooden railing marked the edge of the depression, but most of it had collapsed. A large chair sat in the center of the chamber next to a table heaped with doubtful-looking cuts of rancid meat. Seated upon this make-shift throne was a particularly large troglodyte, with a wicked-looking iron morningstar laid across his legs. Arrayed protectively in front of him, were four female trogs who hissed menacingly as the companions entered the room.
The troglodyte chief grinned evilly as he rose slowly to his feet, and directed his harem to attack. His smile turned quickly to shock and pain as Yannus held forth his holy symbol, and a burst of holy radiance filled the room. The chief and two of the females shrieked and clawed at their eyes, blinded from the brilliant blast, and their skin boiled and blistered from the heat. In an instant, Kelda leaped across the room, her eyes flashing with murder. She slashed her sword downward, opening the chieftain from throat to groin. Coughing and gurgling, the big trog collapsed back onto his throne. Boris took advantage of the chaos to slip his sword blades through the ribs of the nearest female, silencing her screams in an instant. The lethal goblin then whirled away and drove his sword into the throat of one of the blinded trogs, putting her down as well. Haroldo, Yannus and Kelda finished made short work of the remaining two.
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Brinewall Keep lay empty...except for whatever horror still awaited them deep in the bowels of the dungeon. The creature that apparently held the key to the vault the concealed the secret of Ameiko's heritage. Kelda led the way through twisting passages, until at last they came to an intricate iron screen that blocked further progress into a large chamber beyond. A wooden door painted with the image of a tall, beautiful blue-skinned woman seated on a throne stood in the middle of the screen. It was Pharasma, the goddess of the dead. Past the screen, the room stretched dozens of feet to the east, supported by stone pillars, and with deep funerary alcoves on either side. The far end of the chamber seemed to have partially collapsed into a large cavern in which faintly glowing motes of light swirled and danced in the air.
Cautiously, the companions opened the door and entered the crypt. They had taken no more than a few steps, when a ghostly image of the same woman painted on the door, suddenly appeared out of thin air, floating at the far end of the chamber.
"Be at peace," the goddess said. "You are in no danger here. Lay down your weapons and come to me. I shall grant each of you a boon."
Mazael started forward, sheathing his sword as he went.
"What are you doing?" Yannus hissed at him.
"Pharasma is calling to us," the war priest shrugged, looking over his shoulder.
Koman put away his sword as well and began to follow.
"Can't you see it's an illusion?" Yannus snapped as he grabbed his brother's arm
"Pretty," Boris said as he palmed both of his daggers into his sleeves and started after the others.
Yannus cursed and went after the others, though he gripped his glaive firmly in his hands. Haroldo and Piotr came along, though Luician hung back at a gesture from Shalelu, and Kelda showed no sign of going anywhere near the floating image of the goddess.
At the far end of the crypt, the floor simply ended, and a vast cavern opened up in the darkness beyond. The floor descended in two twenty-foot drops into a large, eerie grotto. The walls dripped with moisture and bore strange and disturbing cave paintings of towering four-winged humanoid shapes. Tiny motes of glowing light continued to drift and bob in the air, giving the place an almost nauseating feeling, as if the cavern were viewed through a dreamlike haze. As the companions gathered at the edge of the drop off, the image of Pharasma abruptly vanished, and a creature out of a nightmare rose slowly into view, it's leathery wings beating the air. It had a slimy, mollusk-like body, complete with ten tentacles, two of which ended in savage claws, and a monstrous face. As it reached a height level with the ledge upon which the heroes stood, it spoke, it's voice like bones cracking, its words filthy and unintelligible, and a darkness as black as night spread from out from it, enveloping them all.
Most of the companions groped about blindly, though Boris could still see in the darkness, as could Mazael, thanks to his celestial heritage. So it was that only the two of them saw the creature unleash its next assault. It spat its savage words again, and a greasy cloud of cloying, sickening coldness washed over them. The cried out in pain as the unholy blight seemed to siphon away a bit of their souls, and Yannus and Piotr doubled over, becoming physically ill. Boris knelt down and pulled his bow, taking careful aim. He loosed, and his arrow flew true, but when it struck the abomination, it simply bounced off its thick shell. Then Shalelu was beside him, cocking her head as she listened in the darkness, seeking her target. Before she could act, however, the fiendish decapus drew a slender wand from its tentacles and sent a scorching ray of fire at her.
"I have an idea!" Piotr shouted.
He fished around in his pack until he found what he was looking for: the strange weapon that Kikonu had wielded. He began to whirl the ball and chain section around his head, creating a constant buzzing sound. A moment later, an enormous wasp simply appeared above his head.
'Slay my enemy,' the sorcerer mentally commanded the creature and, it's compound eyes more than adapted for darkness, it flew towards the abomination, it wings humming angrily. It reached the decapus and jabbed its stinger through its shell and into its flesh. The creature bellowed in pain and fury, and lashed out at the wasp with tooth, claw and tentacle. Shalelu's ears honed in on the sounds of the conflict and, ignoring the sting of her burns, she bent her bow and let fly, smiling slightly to herself as she head the arrow strike home.
Haroldo also had an idea, though he didn't feel the need to brag about it like the pompous sorcerer. He felt his way towards the edge of the drop off, and began to lower himself over the side. In the darkness, however, he misjudged his footing and slipped, plummeting the twenty feet to the first ledge below. Cursing, he scrambled to his feet, rage filling him. His anger fueled the innate magic that rested just below the surface and, calling upon it, his body began to shift, growing rapidly to twice his normal his size. He ran towards the far wall and began to climb, his hands and feet sticking to the surface like a spider.
The battle between the decapus and the wasp continued to rage, and with its next barrage of tentacles and claws, the abomination destroyed the giant insect, sending it back to the plane from which it had been summoned. Still, it gave Shalelu time to draw another bead, and this time she loosed first one of the flaming arrows she'd taken from Zaiobe, and then followed with a special arrow she'd been saving...one specially designed for demon-spawn. When the two shafts struck the decapus, it shrieked in agony, clawing and biting at the arrows as they seared its flesh. It brandished its wand again, and another blazing fire bolt struck Shalelu, sending her scrambling for cover.
Down below, as Haroldo continue to scale the wall behind the decapus, it finally took notice of him, and sent a scorching ray his way as well. The giant blood rager took the blast full-on, grimaced in pain, and kept climbing. He reached the creature's level and, while still gripping the wall with his feet and one hand, drew a longsword from the scabbard at his side. The decapus screamed at him, and beat at him with its razor claws, while sinking its fangs into his shoulder. At this point, Haroldo was fully engulfed in the darkness, and fighting blind, though he could tell where the attacks were coming from. Crying out in rage and desperation, he swung his blade with all his might, and felt it bite deeply into the flesh of the fiendish abomination. He heard its screams suddenly cut short, then heard it fall heavily to the ground below. Feeling his strength ebbing, he scrambled rapidly back down to the floor of the grotto, and then proceeded to collapse into unconsciousness from fatigue and blood loss.
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In the aftermath of the battle, Lucian quickly rushed to Haroldo's side and proceeded to heal the warrior's wounds, while the others climbed down the ledges to ensure their opponent was well and truly dead. Secreted within the stalagmites of the grotto floor, they found a small trove of treasures and valuables that the creature had been hoarding. Among the items, Koman's eyes instantly fell upon a familiar looking item...a compass with a small hollow, just large enough to hold a tiny stone or gem.
"It's a wayfinder," he breathed. "The Pathfinders use them. I saw them do amazing things when I studied with them."
He reverently tucked the box into his belt.
Also among the treasure was a stone statuette depicting a a bird-headed, four-winged humanoid with its right arm extended. Piotr saw it first, and felt strangely drawn to it. He reached down and picked it up, and immediately felt an invigorating sense of confidence come over him. At the same time, however, he felt oddly sluggish and weighted down. Something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it...
The last item of interest, was a darkwood and silver disc decorated with an intricate etching of Brinewall under the midnight moon. It was the second key to the vault.
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Before breaching the vault, the exhausted and wounded heroes decided to return to the cemetery and rest. Spivey was thrilled to see them, and to hear of their defeat of the evil within Brinewall. She gladly tended their wounds while she chatted away excitedly. As the day wore on, and they recuperated, the sound of approaching hoofbeats interrupted their reverie. Turning towards the cemetery gates, they saw Sandru galloping in on horseback.
"I'm glad to find you here," he said as he dismounted. "Ameiko spoke again less than an hour ago. She said, 'Grandfather waits in the dark, but he knows not who he was.' Does that mean anything to you?"
"We found the second key to the vault," Yannus replied. "Ameiko's grandfather, Rokuro, said in his letter that he would die defending whatever this family heirloom is. Perhaps some part of him still waits there."
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The following morning, the companions returned to Brinewall keep for the last time. They made their way back down to the vault, and placed both discs into their respective slots. Immediately, the iron bars of the portcullis slowly slid down into the floor. The walls of the room beyond were smooth stone, spattered with ancient bloodstains and deep, violent gouges. Deep drifts of dust lay on the floor, while immense stone doors hung open on the far side, revealing empty vaults beyond. Suddenly, the dust swirled into the air, coalescing into an ominous shadowy form that took on the ghostly image of an old but handsome Tian man. The spirit adopted a defensive pose, his katana held before him menacingly.
"Rokuro Kaijitsu!" Yannus called out, stepping forward boldly. "We have come here with your granddaughter, Ameiko. We have come to help her reclaim your family's honor."
The wraith's eyes bulged, and he froze, motionless. He lowered his sword, and then spoke, his voice low and mournful.
"I...know...this...naaaaaammmmmeeeeee...!"
A moment later, he raised his arms and cried out in anguish, then turned and faced the companions, tears of dust running down his incorporeal cheeks.
"Take the Seal away from here," he said. "Take it to my child. It is no longer safe...and I am no longer worth of guarding it..."
He pointed towards a spot on one blank wall, then, with another agonized cry, he flew apart into dust once more.
It didn't take long for Boris to find the hidden door that Rokuro had indicated. The chamber it opened onto appeared to be only half-excavated, one portion of it remaining a rough cavern wall. Three identical darkwood chests bound with bronze sat against the base of that wall. The three chests were locked, but Boris had no trouble unlocking the first two. Inside these were several items of arms, armor and magical trinkets. As the companions gazed upon them, each felt drawn to a specific item. The drew them forth, and instantly knew that each item had been created specifically for them. The heroes instinctively knew as well that each item contained a unique guardian spirit known as a kami. This spirit imparted to each of them the knowledge that, if they were willing to make an appropriate sacrifice, the kami could make their items even more powerful over time.
As Boris approached the final chest, it simply unlatched and opened, as if it had been waiting. The only item inside was an ornate box decorated with draconic designs, containing three compartments. Only one of those compartments was occupied. It contained a stone statuette of a dragon. As the companions gazed upon this strange totem, their vision began to cloud, and all of them collapsed to the floor. In an instant, their unconscious minds were filled with visions. They saw an army of terrible fiends, with burning skin, glaring eyes, and sharp tusks, wearing strange armor and wielding exotic weapons, emerge in a storm from a vast forest, and then descend upon a nation populated by Tian people.
This vision was swiftly followed by another: a young man dressed in royal robes stood over a simple well, a friend at his side. Suddenly, the friend grew nearly three times in size and was sheathed in a frightening suit of jade armor. The jade warrior drew a sword and struck down his royal friend, then held the bloody sword aloft in triumph.
A third vision followed, this time of a young Tian man handing a beautiful sword to a richly dressed Ulfen man in exchange for a bag of gold.
Finally, the vision faded, and the companions saw their friend Ameiko waking from her deep sleep, but she was dressed in the finery of an empress. She rose from sleep, not in a humble Varisian caravan, but from a resting spot within the arms of a jade throne.
The visions passed in the span of a few heartbeats, and when they had, the heroes awoke once more. The visions had left indelible knowledge in their minds: they knew that the land they saw invaded by fiends was called Minkai; they knew that the man they saw murdered by the jade warrior was Emperor Shigure of Minkai; they knew that Ameiko Kaijitsu's true family name was Amatatsu, one of the five royal families of Minkai; they recognized the young Tian man with the sword as Ameiko's grandfather, Rokuro Kaijitsu, formerly Amatatsu Tsutoku, selling the family's legendary sword Suishen to the Ulfen merchant Fynn Snaevald in the city of Kalsgard to finance his family's flight and exile; they knew that Suishen was intelligent, and could impart much more knowledge of the Amatatsu family's legacy if recovered; they knew that Ameiko herself was the heir of her line; and finally, they knew the power of the stone statuette, the Amatatsu Seal, and its warding box.
The Amatatsu Seal was one of five royal seals of Minkai, and represented the Amatatsu family's divine right to rule the empire of Minkai. Should no Amatatsus of pure blood be able to take up that charge, the Seal could invest the right to rule as an Amatatsu in any number of living, humanoid hosts, making them Amatatsu scions. The companions understood that the Seal had indeed invested each of them as just such a scion. The Seal had healing powers as well, and it revealed these to the heroes. In fact, Piotr instantly knew that the bird statue he had claimed was cursed, and would eventually corrupt his soul. The Amatatsu Seal unmade this curse, and the statue fell to the floor and crumbled to dust. They also were aware that the Seal radiated strong magic, and those with the proper resources could sense this magic across oceans and continents, allowing it to be tracked across any distance. Originally, this was meant to allow its rightful owners to track it if it were stolen, but this also made it vulnerable to tracking from enemies who might be seeking it. This was the purpose of the warding box. As long as it was closed, and the Seal contained within, no amount of divination could find it. Lastly, the Seal made it known that it could never be transported by teleportation magic or dimensional travel. It could not be taken from the Material Plane save via special portals blessed by the gods, and those who carried the Seal could neither cast nor otherwise use teleportation effects. This was meant to protect the Seal from being easily stolen, but it also meant that, if the Seal were to be returned to Minkai, it was going to be a very long journey.
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