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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JollyDoc" data-source="post: 6634060" data-attributes="member: 9546">Queen of Storms5 Erastus, 4715 - 6 Erastus, 4715 "I'm not going to be of any further use to you," Piotr announced to his companions. "I've used all of my spells. I need to rest.""We need to keep going," Zula insisted. "Whomever is controlling the storms surely knows we are here by now. We can't give her the chance to gather her forces against us.""I don't disagree," Piotr nodded, "I'm just saying that I can't help you, and if I go with you, I'd only be a hindrance. I'll go back to the caravan and report on what we've found.""Boris go with you," the goblin said matter-of-factly. "If fire-man no have fire, he not make it back to wagons alone. Boris help.""Well that's just great!" Mazael threw up his hands. "So now we're down two warm bodies! We're not helping our chances here!""Then I suppose it's a good thing we arrived when we did," a new voice chimed in from the tower's entryway. The others looked around, startled, and saw Shalelu standing there, Spivey hovering over her shoulder."We came looking for you," Spivey said. "You've been gone an awfully long time. We were getting worried.""I would say your timing was perfect," Zula smiled. "Come. Let's get moving. I will brief you as we go."_______________________________________________________With Boris gone, it was up to Zula to figure out how to operate the lift mechanism. With her magical aptitude, it didn't take long, and the blue plane of force reappeared. The companions stepped on quickly, and it proceeded to rise swiftly up the central shaft of the tower. It stopped after about a hundred feet, and the chamber it had ascended into was significantly warmer than the lower rooms had been. The hexagonal shaft was open to the chamber on three sides, but its other three sides continued up towards the blue sphere above. To the left and right, two hexagonal portals stood in the walls, filled with featureless opaque crystals. An immense centipede-like beast crouched in the center of the room, rows of chitinous plates on its back glowing red-hot, each one emblazoned with the three-fingered claw symbol of Sithhud. Lucian had an arrow knocked and his bow drawn in the blink of an eye. In less time than that, he'd loosed two shafts into the ice worm. Mazael stepped between the remorhaz and his friends, Suishen blazing before him. He slashed repeatedly at the beast, and it drew back from his fury, hissing in rage. Then it lowered its massive head and slammed it into the war-priest, sending him flying to the back of the platform and into the wall of the shaft behind it, where he slumped to the ground. Bleeding profusely from its wounds, the remorhaz reared up weakly, gathering its strength to strike again, but then Shalelu's bow twanged and an arrow buried itself to the fletchings in the brute's right eye, and it toppled over with a crash. At that moment, the blue force platform flickered and vanished. Most of the companions had already stepped off of it to get clear of the rampaging ice worm, but Mazael still lay stunned upon it, and Lucian had not yet gotten clear. As they began to fall, Zula sang out a prayer, and both of them abruptly began drifting down, gentle as a feather. They reached the bottom of the shaft unscathed, and Lucian, having watched Zula do it before, manipulated the control panel there to cause the platform to reappear. They rode up once again to join their friends, and this time, quickly vacated the untrustworthy apparatus.___________________________________________________The two hexagonal, crystalline doors behind the shaft both bore control panels, even more complex that the one below that had summoned the platform. Yet Zula was able to bypass one of them as easily as if she'd done it a hundred times. The hexagonal portal retracted into the wall in six equal triangular sections, revealing a spacious chamber with a bewildering array of crystals and metallic tracery embedded in the walls. A low humming noise filled the air, and the crystals flashed with incomprehensible colored lights at irregular intervals. Scuttling about the room were eight creatures that looked like dog-sized scorpions carved completely out of gemstones, engaged in inscrutable tasks. They took no notice of the door opening, nor of the intruders staring at them with puzzled expressions. "Crysmals," Zula said. "They are native to the plane of earth. They are sort of like insects, only existing to reproduce by feeding on crystals.""Are they aggressive?" Mazael asked cautiously."Not generally," Zula shrugged, "but like any animal, they can be territorial."She gazed about the room, her lips moving silently in prayer."There is magic here," she said, and pointed to several spots on the walls. "Three of the crystals. They look to have some value.""Then we aren't leaving them here," Mazael said matter-of-factly.He strode purposefully into the room, and the crysmals scurried about his feet, heedless. He reached the first crystal that Zula had indicated, and removed it from its niche. Instantly, all of the crysmals turned towards him, their spiked tales arching over their backs."Guess they consider this their territory," he gulped.Lucian had readied his bow, expecting this exact thing to happen. Humans and their greed, he sighed to himself before snapping off two shots and shattering the nearest crysmal. Shalelu gave him a knowing shake of her head and an eye roll before destroying another with a volley. One of the creatures turned towards them and flicked its tail forward, sending a shard of razor-sharp crystal flying towards them. It struck the wall beside them and sent a shower of broken glass over them, leaving small nicks and cuts behind. Then Zula stepped into the room and opened her mouth. She pitched her voice at a high, ear-piercing frequency, and five more of the crysmals shattered into fragments. Lucian brushed the glass from his hands, and fired two more arrows into the last of the creatures, breaking it into pieces.________________________________________________The control panel beside the central shaft on the second level of the tower was much more intricate than the previous one had been, but Zula had no difficulty activating it. This time, however, not only did the blue translucent platform appear, but so did a shimmering dome over the platform. When the companions stepped inside, the temperature was comfortable, and the winds buffeting from above were calm. The platform rose swiftly another one-hundred feet, and came to a stop at the top of the shaft. The twenty-foot hexagonal hole of the shaft lay in the floor of a huge, hexagonal chamber. Four stone platforms jutted from the walls fifty feet above the floor, and above these, a pair of open windows in each wall looked out over the icy landscape outside. Six large crystals were embedded in the walls between the windows, glowing with a blue radiance. High above, a wide hexagonal opening pierced the ceiling. Beyond this, a massive sphere of blue light shed a dazzling radiance. Bolts of crackling electricity joined the crystals in the walls with the ball of energy. A howling gale swept downwards from the sphere, carrying a rumble of distant thunder. No less than a dozen hoarfrost spirits surrounded the central shaft as the companions rose through it, and atop one of the high platforms stood a woman of terrible beauty. She was lithe and graceful with pale, blue skin marked with white whorls. Her lustrous midnight-blue hair drifted about her head like wisps of storm clouds, and wings of blue-black feathers spread from her back. Her silvery fingernails glinted like razors. "Sithhud welcomes you," she called, "as He welcomes all who sacrifice for His greater glory!" Haroldo blurred into motion, leaping from the platform, his sword cleaving into two of the nearest of the frozen dead. Mongo was right behind him, and swept the legs from under one of the undead with his pole-arm, sending it tumbling to the floor where he then impaled it with the point of his glaive. Behind them, Spivey rose into the air and out of the protective dome. The gale-force winds rushed around her, but did not seem to bother her in the slightest, for the little azata was touched by Desna, and no physical force could restrain her movement. She held her hands above her head, and a dazzling burst of radiance flashed from between them. The holy light seared the other hoarfrost spirit that Haroldo had wounded into ashes. Another one nearby hissed, and threw its hands to its face as its eyes were burned out of its skull. The other undead drew back for a moment, but then quickly gathered themselves together again and, as one, unleashed blasts of frigid air upon all of the heroes. For most of the companions, this was only a minor annoyance as they had Suishen's protection against the cold. This was not true, however, for Mongo, Shalelu or Spivey. While Spivey's angelic heritage afforded her some respite, Mongo and Shalelu staggered out of the blast radius, ice crystalized around their joints. "Come to me!" Zula shouted to her friendsShe didn't wait to see if they obeyed before she cast a spell and conjured a second dome around them, this one opaque from the outside, but translucent from the interior. A moment later, Katiyana, the black-winged woman, wove her own magic, and a dark, greasy miasma exploded over the heroes, both inside and outside of the dome. The cloud cleared instantly, but it left scorched, blackened burns on the flesh of all of the heroes. For Shalelu, the back-to-back assaults were too much. The ranger sank to the floor beyond the relative protection of the dome, unconscious. Lucian cried out in dismay and ran from the dome, heedless of the danger. Haroldo cursed and charged after the oracle, hewing two hoarfrost spirits from behind as they closed on Lucian. Mongo followed and speared one of the undead as it tried to rise. Lucian reached Shalelu and lifted her over his shoulder, then hurried back to the dome.The remaining hoarfrost spirits realized that, though the dome was opaque, it could not physically bar their way, and they began moving into it. Mazael met the first one through, and though it struck him a glancing blow, his retaliatory strike took its head from its shoulders. Zula looked up through the dome and saw Katiyana high overhead. Gathering her magic again, the Shoanti woman tapped into the power of the storm raging above, and called lightning down from it to strike the fiendish creature. Katiyana stiffened for a moment, and then threw her head back and laughed maniacally. "Foolish child!" she screamed. "The storms are mine to command!"She raised her hand above her, and lightning gathered around her fist."But the thunder is mine!" Zula shouted back, her voice booming and rocking Katiyana back on her heels, her spell fizzling. The hoarfrost spirits continued to close in around the companions. Lucian stood protectively over Shalelu as he picked his targets and loosed arrow after arrow. One of the undead went down with two arrows through its neck. Haroldo spun around like a maddened dervish, cutting down another three of the frozen dead. Another one rushed in behind him, and he whirled, hacking that one to pieces as well. Lucian took the brief respite to catch his breath, then kneeled beside Shalelu and laid a hand upon her chest. Closing his eyes, he allowed his healing magic to flow into her, staunching her bleeding and easing her breath.  Zula saw that Katiyana was recovering from her previous assault, so she focused her voice and blasted again."Now, while she's distracted!" the thunder-caller shouted. "Someone get up there!"Haroldo nodded and ran towards the nearest wall. He concentrated the rage boiling through his blood, and then through a sheer effort of will, he began scaling the wall with his hands like some giant, savage arachnid. Mazael's solution was less eloquent. He pulled the stopper from a flask with his teeth, and then upended it. A moment later, he flew into the air, Desna's blessing allowing him to soar through the buffeting winds, and charged towards the platform upon with Katiyana stood. He reached her just as she regained her balance for a second time, and slashed at her with Suishen. She screeched in pain, and leaped off the platform, spreading her wings and soaring across the chamber. Down below, Zula blasted the last two undead inside the hut. As they stumbled back, Lucian put an arrow through one's skull, and Mongo tripped the other then stabbed it on the way down. Mazael flew after Katiyana just as Haroldo reached the platform where she had been. Her eyes blazed as lightning gathered around her hand and she hurled it at the two warriors, sending electricity sizzling through their bodies. Laughing, she prepared to strike again."That will be enough of that!" Lucian muttered from his vantage on the ground where he watched the battle raging overhead.He spoke a prayer to counteract magic and focused on the gathering electricity around Katiyana. He smiled when, with a satisfying 'pop,' the energy simply vanished. Haroldo got to his feet, his clothing still smoldering from the lightning strike. As he raised his head, he caught sight of one of the large crystals embedded in the wall just above the platform. It still crackled with energy, and this arced to the other crystals, and to the large sphere above. It gave the blood-rager an idea. Gripping his sword in both hands, he raised it over his head and brought it down upon the crystal as hard as he could. The crystal cracked...a little...but an instant later, a blast of electricity surged from it, engulfing Haroldo. He jittered and danced across the platform for a moment and then, as the electricity died away, he fell motionless to the stone.Mongo watched Mazael struggle with Katiyana, and noted that she had drawn near another platform. The big Mwangi strapped his pole-arm across his back, and then slipped a pair of steel-clawed gloves over his hands. With these, he was able to get a grip on the icy wall of the chamber and began climbing.Zula saw Haroldo go down, and she cursed roundly, but she thought the blood-rager was on the right track. She looked up at another of the crystals and then opened her mouth and screamed at it, the sonic blast sending a spiderweb of cracks all through it. As Mazael pressed his attack, Katiyana hissed in rage. Her eyes glowed blood red as she channeled the fury of the Abyss. Her claws grew wickedly sharp, and she slashed at the war-priest, opening terrible rents in his flesh. He grew dizzy from blood loss, and knew he would not be able to fend off her blows for much longer. Just then, he saw a blur of movement from behind Katiyana as Mongo launched himself off the platform and wrapped his arms around her. She twisted and writhed in his grip, but could not free herself. Mazael saw his only opportunity and rushed forward, Suishen singing in his hands. Once...twice...three times the sword struck, and with the last blow, Katiyana went limp. As she did, the storm sphere above suddenly imploded, and quickly dwindled away into nothingness. At the same time, all of the crystals along the walls exploded, releasing blasts of electricity. One of these caught Mazael, knocking him unconscious and sending him spiraling towards the floor. As the storm died, and the cacophony gave way to blessed silence, a distant scream could be heard being scattered on the polar winds.________________________________________________ Gathering their wounded, the companions left the Storm Tower and returned to the caravan. The storm had broken, and the roaming bands of undead were nowhere to be found. The mood among the caravaners was jubilant, despite the injuries suffered and the horror they had seen."You know," Sandru said later, as they sat around the fire passing a flask of Varisian brandy," I've heard many interesting legends among the traveling folk over the years, but there is one in particular that comes back to me now that we are here, at the top of world, amid the ruins of this city of crystal spires.""And I suppose you're going to regale us with the details?" Koya laughed, well into her cups."You know me too well, Mother," Sandru smiled. He cleared his throat and rose to his feet, warming to his audience. "The story goes that many years ago, the princes of the Tian country of Waj Khor kept a powerful artifact known as the White Peacock Crown. It was said that this item helped them maintain their independence from their larger, more powerful neighbors. The princes claimed that it gave them the ability to see and hear the truth, which allowed them to thwart the deceptions of the rakshasas to their south, and the oni to the north. The princes even went so far as to make copies of the Crown to prevent would-be thieves from easily stealing it. However, a female ninja named Miriya was not just any thief. She was among the most clever and canny of her clan, and she was able to infiltrate the palace with a small group of her kinsmen, and make off with the true White Peacock Crown. It was not long after that the rival outsiders rose up in power and contested one another for control of Waj Khor, and brother was turned against brother, each enslaved by the warring factions. The small kingdom tore itself apart in civil war.After their hollow victory, the oni began seeking the Crown, and started hunting down the ninjas of Miriya's clan. The clan master declared the Crown accursed and ordered Miriya to carry it to the farthest reaches of the world, banishing her on pain of death. Accompanied by a few faithful friends, she made her way from place to place, seeking hiding and shelter in great cities and tiny villages, brothels and monasteries. Each time, however, shape-changing pursuers found her, and she was forced to flee before them. In the end, she journeyed far to the north, even beyond the Wall of Heaven mountains that marked the edge of the lands she knew. Beyond, she found only the endless expanse of the frozen north. She and her friends infiltrated a caravan heading across the Crown of the World, covering their trail with a false sea voyage in hopes of throwing off their pursuers.""Halfway across the Crown, their luck ran out. The oni caught up with them again, slaughtering most of the caravan before they were driven off. Miriya and the surviving caravaners left the known pathways and lost themselves in the northern mountains. They wandered for weeks until they discovered a long-forgotten legend: a strange city of towers, midnight blue and gleaming silver, and shattered glass, at once ruined and yet enduring from time out of mind. Approaching the outskirts and breaking into a low building at the foot of an impossibly high tower, Miriya and her companions found strange crystals and metallic carvings and artifacts that they broke loose to sell. Miriya, now half-mad, stated that she knew she had truly reached the farthest reaches of the world as she had promised her master, and there she would stay with the White Peacock Crown, hidden forever where the oni would never find it. She took the Crown down a long tunnel, impossibly straight and lit by lines of blue light, and Xam and Odashu, the last two surviving caravaners, sealed shut the door behind her.""How do you know all of this?" Mazael asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously."Because I spoke with Xam himself when I met him once in Kalsgaard," Sandru replied. "He and Odashu eventually made their way across the pole, arriving in the trade villages just below the high ice. They kept their mysterious trade goods close, but were free with parts of their tales, which were little believed but much enjoyed by the locals. After venturing farther south, they had plans to return in force to loot the ancient ruins, but they were disappointed to find little market for the oddments they had brought with them. The strange relics of crystal and wire and tiny blinking lights seemed to have no purpose but decoration. Finally arriving in Kalsgaard, they found merchants who saw profit in these strange things, but pressed them for details of their tale. Sadly, they were unable to accurately track their journey, and hope of a triumphant return at the head of their own caravan was lost. In despair and drunken rage, Xam and Odashu fell into an argument, and Xam killed his partner. He himself was later tried and executed for the murder.""Fascinating," Mazael grumbled, "but what's that got to do with us?""Don't you see?" Sandru asked, spreading his hands. "The blue crystal spires Xam described...we are here! From his description of the great tower, I think I can find the building where they last saw Miriya. If nothing else, it might be a pleasant diversion and a chance to gather some exotic trade goods that we might take with us to Tian Xia."He looked to the others, most of whom shrugged noncommittally."If there really is such a relic that was meant to protect against the oni," Ameiko said at length, "then I think we are obligated to find it."___________________________________________________The following morning, as the companions gathered their gear and prepared to trek further into the ruins, Koya approached Zula."I consulted the Harrow this morning," the old woman said without preamble. "The cards told me that an exploration of this city carries both risk and reward.""Obviously," Zula nodded."However," Koya continued, somewhat irritated, "they also told me that the tale of the madwoman Miriya does not tell the whole story. The Crown that she carries is not cursed, but it bears some great virtue against the oni and their kind, and it was for this reason that they sought it out and tried to destroy it and all who knew of it."_______________________________________________Sandru found the low bunker just where Xam had described it. The blue-black stone structure protruded from the ice at the base of a monolith over a half-mile in height. Dimly visible beneath a thick layer of frost was a faint tracery of silvery wire inlaid in a repeating star-like pattern encircling a hexagonal portal in the bunker's face. To the right of the portal was a hexagonal panel of milky-white crystal, spider-webbed with cracks and smashed through in several places. Haroldo hacked away the icy covering with his blade, and Zula bent to examine the panel. "It's similar to the ones in the Storm Tower," she said, mostly to herself. "Someone didn't want it functional. Maybe your mysterious ninja woman, Sandru. I think, however, that with a little time, I may be able to repair it."She bent to the task, working like a master craftsman. Her fingers deftly manipulated the fine structures within the panel, until finally it flared with blue light, and the hexagonal sections of the portal slid aside. Beyond the doorway was a ramp heading down. A bit down the hexagonal corridor, tiny pinpoints of blue light flickered into view, emanating from the floor at regular intervals. "Just as Xam said," Sandru observed. "A long corridor lined with blue lights. Miriya was last seen going that way."As the companions moved down the ramp, more of the lights continued to appear when they approached. The ramp continued a few hundred feet, descending gently, before it disgorged onto a square platform lit by similar lights. The floors and walls of the chamber were covered in cracked tiles, smeared with some dark residue. To the left and right were the ruined remnants of what may once have been smaller rooms, though whether they were closets, cells or even sleeping quarters was impossible to tell. All that remained were the broken bases of interior walls and what may have been horizontal shelves or bunks. Directly ahead, a metallic jamb or frame held fragments of a shattered glassine wall. Beyond, steps dropped down to a sunken catwalk. As they walked among the broken fragments, Zula bent down when she noticed a metallic object gleaming in the dim light. It was a circular pendant engraved with a star pattern on both sides. Not knowing what to make of it, she tucked it away in her tunic.The metallic grated catwalk extended down another hexagonal tunnel leading off into darkness. Unlike the previous one, this one was unlit. The walls were made of stone, cracked in many places, and slick with moisture, with patches of slimy residue congealing in many places. At irregular intervals, the cracks opened into wider crevices, no more than a foot wide, where the residue was thicker. Mazael was leading the group, and as he stepped over one of these crevices, the black substance within suddenly rose up as a large, amorphous mass. "Watch out!" Lucian shouted as he quickly loosed three arrows towards the thing. To his dismay, as each arrow struck, the ooze split apart, until four of the blobs now filled the corridor. "Stand aside!" Zula commanded. She opened her throat, and the resulting sonic boom blasted all four of the oozes apart._____________________________________________________Ahead in the distance in the seemingly endless tunnel, there was a flickering blue light, guttering out and then after a brief span wanly returning before again going dark. Approaching closer, the companions could see the battered hulk of a hexagonal metallic tube, with cracked bubble-like windows along both sides and at each end. Several bluish lights seemed to be moving inside the hulk. As they moved towards the wreckage, a half-dozen hunched, misshapen humanoids clutching long shards of metal emerged from within. They were clad only in rags and sagging drapes of skin, and their flesh glowed with a pale blue light, their eyes a baleful red. The creatures rushed forward in a swarm, moving so swiftly that they were among the heroes before they could react. One of them stabbed Mazael in the back with its spear as it passed. Mongo tripped and stabbed one before it could reach him, and Haroldo struck another. Lucian shot a third one, but none of the wretched things would fall. It was almost as if blows deflected off their strange skin. To make matters worse, another black pudding-like ooze rose up behind the companions, attracted by the sounds of the melee.   Zula made quick work of the ooze, just as she'd done with the previous one. Her compatriots fought frantically as the resilient morlocks scrambled around them like rats. The creatures took more punishment than seemed possible before falling, leaving the heroes bloodied but with no serious wounds. They gathered themselves and pushed past the wrecked vehicle, continuing down into darkness.</blockquote>

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