They found the tunnel Ameiko had told them about leading off from one of the unused basement storerooms. It was carved from the bedrock beneath Sandpoint, and wound several hundred feet beneath the sleeping town above. At one point, two side tunnels branched from it, one of them leading to a collapse, while the other led to a point that seemed to have been bricked up until recently. Beyond the demolished wall, it continued on into darkness. With Dexter in the lead, moving as stealthily as a shadow, the seven companions started down. Another hundred feet or so passed before Dex saw what looked like an opening on the right side of the tunnel. Ahead, it turned a corner and appeared to continue on. Motioning for the others to stay back, he crept silently ahead and peered around the opening. What he saw almost drew a scream from his throat. Only his mouth suddenly going dry prevented it. Two figures stood stock still in the darkness of a small, barren cave. They were horribly deformed, hairless and emaciated, with unnaturally long arms that ended in three-fingered talons. Their legs bent like those of a dog, and a writhing network of bulging veins formed dark blue patterns across their pallid skin. Worst of all, however, where their faces…their noses were little more than a pair of slits, and their eyes were bulging and red. Their lower jaws split in half at the chin into two wretched arms that terminated in three-fingered hands to either side of open gullets with writhing tongues.
Before the rogue could move, both of the creatures locked their eyes upon him. Only then did his momentary paralysis leave him and he backed quickly away. Skud was the closest behind him, and when the half-orc saw the look of fear on his friend’s face, he rushed forward, blade rasping free of its sheath. He met the first creature just as it cleared the opening, slamming his sword into its forehead. The beast reeled from the blow, shrieking in an inhuman voice. A moment later, an arrow sprouted from its shoulder. Skud glanced behind him and saw that Dex had regained enough composure to line up a shot with his bow. Just then, the second creature elbowed its way past its brother, and Skud slashed viciously across its abdomen. To his shock and surprise, the wound quickly began to knit itself back together, and he saw that the first monster’s wounds were closing as well. Suddenly, Skud found himself jostled aside, and when he looked to where this new attack was coming from, he saw Adso roll himself into a ball and somersault behind the second creature. Coming to his feet behind the brute, the monk quickly grabbed its head with both hands and gave a quick twist, snapping its neck with an audible crack. As it dropped, a great gout of blood burst from the first creature’s chest as Randall’s sword tip erupted through.
“What…in the name…of all that’s holy…were those?” Dex rasped in between ragged breaths. Wesh moved up and knelt beside one of the corpses.
“They’re called sinspawn,” the mage said. “I’ve heard of them in tales that Madame Mvashti told me, but I always thought they were just the spinnings of an old woman. Guess I was wrong.”
“Yes, but what are they?” Luther asked, revulsion on his face.
“I can’t remember exactly,” Wesh shook his head. “All I recall is that they were supposedly common in ancient Thassilon, but again, I always halfway believed the stories of that empire were myth as well.”
“Well, these things were real enough,” Dexter said. “I’d say we stumbled upon something a bit more than smuggler’s tunnels.”
“Tsuto’s journal did mention a quasit and her ‘freaks,’” Wesh reminded him. “I guess these would qualify.”
_______________________________________________
The tunnel continued on for a distance before branching again. This time, it ended at a room of worked stone. The original purpose of the chamber was unclear, but large mounds of rubble lay strewn on the floor, and a single closed door stood on its far side. Beyond this, they found another passage, this one also of worked stone. It twisted back on itself several times before opening into a small antechamber. A red marble statue of a strikingly beautiful, but at the same time, monstrously enraged human woman stood in the middle of the room, her stony expression twisted in fury. She wore flowing robes, and her long hair was held back from her face by an intricate headdress of hooks and blades. In her left hand she carried a large book, the face of which was inscribed with a seven-pointed star. Her right hand held a glittering metal and ivory ranseur.
“What do you make of this?” Luther asked Wesh as he walked around the statue.
“I’m not sure,” the wizard replied distractedly. “Again, it’s a feeling like I should know, but the memory’s just out of reach. I think this place is old, though. Certainly it was here long before Sandpoint, and sure enough goblins didn’t build it. I’m starting to think we’re on to something much larger than we imagined.”
Continuing on, the group came to a point where the passage widened into what appeared to have once been a small shrine, for to the northeast, steps led up to a platform of gray stone. Sitting atop the platform was an ancient altar, little more than a jagged block of black marble with a shallow concavity on top of it. This basin was filled with what appeared to be filthy water. A pair of large, double doors stood closed on the far side of the area. Wes paused in front of the altar and closed his eyes in concentration.
“There’s magic here,” he said. “Strong. We’d best be cautious.”
When he opened his eyes again, however, they widened in dismay.
“Skud, no!”
But it was too late. The burly half-orc stood before the altar and scooped a double handful of the liquid into his mouth.
“What?” he snarled, turning towards the mage. “Skud thirs…”
His voice trailed off as a sickly green pallor washed over him. Doubling over as he fell to his knees, he began retching violently…and continuously.
“Stand back!” Luther said in a commanding voice that seemed to surprise even himself. Moving quickly, he knelt beside the barbarian and laid his hands on Skud’s back. He closed his eyes and his lips moved silently in prayer. Gradually, Skud’s heaves grew weaker, until finally he could catch his breath again. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he climbed slowly to his feet.
“I guess that’s a mistake you won’t be repeating,” Wesh said smugly.
“Leave be,” Dex snapped as he allowed his friend to lean against him. “He was thirsty. He didn’t know.”
“He does now,” Wesh answered. “So do the rest of you. Don’t take anything in here for granted. This is an ancient place, with ancient secrets. We disturb them at our peril.”
Once Skud had recovered sufficiently, the group approached the doors. After Dex made sure there were no hidden traps waiting to be sprung, Skud and Randall put their shoulders to the portals and pushed them open. The huge room revealed beyond looked like nothing so much as an immense, underground cathedral. The walls were carved with strange, spiky runes. In the center of the chamber was a large pool, a ring of polished human skulls balanced on stone spikes arranged in a circle around the deeper midsection. At the fare end of the room, a pair of stone stairways led up to a pulpit on which sat a second pool, triangular in shape and filled with churning, bubbling water that looked almost like translucent lava. Yet, while wisps of what looked like heat and steam rose from the strange, orange liquid, the room itself was deathly cold. Hovering above the second pool was an odd little creature. It appeared to be female, as evidenced by the black, silk gown it wore, and the jeweled tiara on its head, but beyond that, there was nothing remotely human about it. Its skin was green, and thickly scaled, and black, greasy hair hung lankly about its face. Tiny, bat-like wings on its back beat the air like that of a hummingbird, and small curved horns protruded from its head. When it spoke, its voice was raspy and heavy with phlegm.
“How dare you intrude upon the Mother’s sanctum?” she shrieked. “I am empress here, I, Erylium, and you shall not despoil my empire further!”
Quick as a flash, a small dagger appeared in her hand, and she made two swift cuts across her other wrist. Drops of blood dribbled from the wounds into the pool below, and when they did, the orange glow dimmed noticeably. Just for a moment, a look of worry crossed Erylium’s face. Then the pool began to churn even more angrily, and from its depths crawled two sinspawn.
“Quasit?” Dex asked, raising an eyebrow at Wesh.
“Quasit,” the mage replied.
Dex nodded and knocked an arrow, letting fly an instant later, striking one of the sinspawn as it hauled itself out of the pool.
“Hie, Garm!” Rico’s voice suddenly called out, and at his command the wolf darted forward, moving low to the ground. The second sinspawn had just reached the bottom of one of the flights of stairs when Garm struck. The sheer momentum of the animal bowled the monster off of its feet, and as it fell, the wolf’s jaws fastened on one of its arms and Garm began shaking his head violently back and forth.
Meanwhile, Skud started forward, but Wesh grabbed him by the shoulder.
“If you want to keep hand, let go!” the barbarian growled.
“I’m not trying to stop you, friend,” the wizard replied. “Just trying to level the playing field.”
He began speaking arcane words, and as he did, Skud’s body began to expand. By the time Wesh’s spell was complete, the half-orc stood twice his normal height, and his sword had grown proportionately as well. Skud looked down at himself, then at his sword and grinned wickedly at Wesh.
“Good trick!” he laughed, and then waded into the room. As he advanced, the first sinspawn, Dex’s arrow still stuck in its chest, came to meet him. Barely checking his stride, the enormous barbarian swept his six-foot blade before him, neatly separating the sinspawn’s head from its shoulders.
Erylium cursed a blue streak as she saw the first of her minions fall. She screeched louder still as a cerulean bolt from Wesh’s outstretched hand struck her, scorching her thick hide. Her wails took on a cadence as she began the workings of her own spell. As she spat out the last word, the air before her shimmered, and from thin air, a large, coiled serpent appeared. Its eyes glowed red, and vicious-looking spikes covered its scaly skin. With unnerving speed, it coiled to strike at Garm as the wolf continued to worry at the prone sinspawn. Before it could, however, Adso was there, moving with the fluidity and grace of a zephyr. He caught the viper under its jaw with a vicious uppercut just as it lunged. It hissed madly, and almost faster than the eye could follow, it whirled on the monk and sank its needle-like fangs into his thigh. Adso winced, but did not cry out. Instead, he seized the snake’s upper and lower jaws in both hands and began to pry its mouth open. A moment later, the viper vanished as quickly as it had appeared as another arrow from Dexter’s bow pierced its eye, sending it back to whatever Abyssal plane it was summoned from.
By this time, Randall had entered the fray. The last sinspawn was struggling to regain its feet, tearing at Garm with its free hand as it rose. Before it cold pull itself completely upright, however, the big soldier’s sword cut it down in a flurry of flashing steel. Erylium hissed in rage, but as another volley of Wesh’s magic missiles struck her, she vanished into thin air.
“Beware!” Wesh cried out. “This demon-spawn can render herself invisible! She’s still here!”
No sooner had he spoken, than Erylium reappeared across the room as a wave of magic emanated from her. All of the company felt its effect briefly…a cold, sickening fear. For most, it passed as quickly as it had come, but for Dex and Garm, the terror took root. It was a race to see who would reach the doors faster, with Dex beating the wolf by a fraction of a second. Both then darted towards opposite corners of the antechamber, where they hunched down against the walls, panic-stricken.
Skud saw his friend flee, but bloodlust was upon him, and he paid Dex no heed. Instead, he ran across the chamber, his long legs carrying him there in three steps. His heavy sword chopped down, opening a great gash down one of Erylium’s arms.
“How dare you lay hands upon me, animal?” she shrieked. Then, black power gathered around her upraised fist, and she reached out and slapped the half-orc. As she did so, the dark energy exploded and Skud reeled back, but not before slashing at her once more. Erylium flew after him, gathering more magic about her. Before she could strike again, however, a sizzling volley of energy bolts from Wesh knocked her out of the air. Slowly, she spiraled towards the floor below, landing unmoving upon the stone.
