Neverwinter Knight
First Post
Congrats to you guys. We all know that it takes a lot of time and effort to keep a SH alive and you, gfunk and Joachim have done an outstanding job. So thanks right back attcha.JollyDoc said:
Here's to the next 20k...
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
JollyDoc's Shackled City
- Thread starter JollyDoc
- Start date
Here's to the next 20k...
Neverwinter Knight
First Post
Not at all - or just the other way around...Mortepierre said:Darn! I had missed the last sentence. Well, well .. life is certainly going to be interesting for Caine then ..![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Our friend Caine has gained the benefits of both sides. Neither Holy Word nor Unholy Blight will affect him. A lawful good sucubus would feel both.
If Caine hadn't taken a vow of poverty and nonviolence, I'd proclaim him a munchkin right now!
Last edited:
PugioilAudacio
First Post
JollyDoc said:
First, congradulations on the 20k. You have an awsome story going!
Can't....wait....need....update aghhhh.
(It's funny how addictive this gets).
JollyDoc
Explorer
Ah, Hell with it. Here's the update!
THE ROAD TO PERDITION
Tilly held the dangling lantern firmly in two hands, gazing out across the vast plain of cyst-like cocoons and trying in vain to see the point where its silver lance of light was directed. This was going to be their third, or fourth attempt to cross the battlefield. He’d lost count, and only hoped it would be their last.
“Let’s go,” Kaurophon hissed, “We’ve wasted enough time already, and this time I beg you all to stay focused! I don’t care if it’s your own mother you see beckoning to you from the grave, keep moving!”
Once again they began following the unseen path indicated by the lantern across the plain of cysts. Tilly tried to keep his eyes straight ahead, ignoring the vaguely humanoid shapes and glowing objects encased within the ovoids all around him. So it was, that directly in front of him he spied what appeared to be an insectile leg behind a particularly large cyst. He heard a sinister hiss as he passed around the edge of the cocoon. To his horror, the large leg was attached to an even larger body…a gigantic spider-like creature with four huge, glowing eyes! It appeared to be engrossed with excavating a suit of armor from the cyst, and for the moment paid no heed to the halfling. “Move!” he heard Kaurophon whisper from behind him, but when he turned, the sorcerer was nowhere to be seen. Invisible again, Tilly sighed to himself. It must be nice to be able to be so brave and unseen at the same time.
“Yes, keep moving,” this from Wathros, but Tilly saw that the druid was not around either. Instead, the now familiar form of a huge rhinoceros stood grimly facing the spider. One by one Tilly’s friends gathered around the rhino as the abyssal arachnid now slowly raised its alien head, regarding these intruders coldly. They were buying him time, he knew, possibly with their lives. Regardless of his misgivings, he couldn’t waste the opportunity, so the little rogue kept walking resolutely forward, following the path of the beam.
Rusty began edging away from the spider, meaning to follow Tilly in case the halfling ran into further trouble up the path, but at that moment, one of the beast’s eyes rotated independently of the other three to focus directly on him. The orb began glowing ice blue, and then a frigid beam of cold energy lanced out from it, striking the priest squarely in the chest. Simultaneously, a second eye generated a scorching red ray, sending it towards Caine. Frantically culling his memory, the apostle was able to put a name to the creature…a retriever…sort of a demonic bloodhound, used by its evil masters to find fugitives. This was not good.
Recovering from the icy blow, Rusty gathered his prayers, and then sent an answering blast of energy, this one pure holiness, back at the demon. It roared in pain, and then in shock as a spray of diamond-like shards ripped thru its hide. The rhino/druid snorted in satisfaction as he saw the effects of his own casting.
Patting at his still smoldering robes, Caine stepped quickly to the hulking form of Grimm. “You’re on my friend,” he said, reaching out to touch the half-ogre, who instantly disappeared from view. If the retriever had been able to see Grimm’s face, the demon might actually have been given a moment’s pause by the look of cunning and satisfaction there. The huge warrior stalked toward the monster, as now a crackle of electricity shot from a third eye, again striking Rusty. In the mean time, Kaurophon, from a safe distance, launched a cone of freezing air at the demon, further adding to the damage it had already sustained. Grimm saw that it was prime pickings now. Whirling his massive chain above his head, he snapped it forward in two devastating cracks, opening gaping rents in the retriever’s hide. The spider shrieked in agony, lashing out blindly in the direction from which the attack had come, but finding nothing there. As it turned frantically this way and that, Grimm stepped in for one final blow, caving in the beast’s skull.
_____________________________________________________________
The party quickly caught up to Tilly. It appeared that their idea had worked. Come what may, the lantern bearer had to keep moving along the path to avoid being returned back to the beginning of the battlefield. They were still congratulating themselves on their ingenuity, when Kaurophon motioned them to silence, gesturing ahead of them. Between two cysts stood four humans cloaked in black. One of them, a woman, held aloft a skull, while the other three leaned on shovels. They instantly came alert as they spotted the approaching companions.
As the group drew nearer, Caine saw that the woman wore a holy symbol around her neck. To his shocked amazement, it was that of Kelemvor, protector of the dead. What would a priest of Kelemvor be doing desecrating a gravesite, especially a celestial one. Indignant, the apostle strode boldly forward, motioning the others to continue moving, Tilly in particular. “You there!” the sorcerer called, “What is the meaning of this? How dare you despoil this holy place? You are supposed to be a shepherd of the departed.”
“Aye,” Rusty said, joining Caine and prominently displaying his own holy symbol. “It would appear we all serve the powers of good here sister. Can ye explain yerself?”
The priestess narrowed her eyes in contempt, “Do not presume to preach to me, infidels! You know nothing of the will of Kelemvor! Your presence here is unfortunate…for you. You have borne witness to more than you should, but no matter. The Lord of the Dead is ever seeking new souls!” The woman began weaving a spell, and her three companions were a blur of motion. Each of them retrieved a small vial from their belts, quaffing them and disappearing.
Caine, reacting to the incantation of the priestess, quickly began his own, completing it a fraction of a second before the Kelemvorite. The woman suddenly found herself enveloped in sphere of resilient force, imprisoned but not harmed. Cursing roundly, she hurled spell after spell at the cocoon, all to no avail.
Grimm allowed a slight smile to steal over his face as the three assassins closed in unseen around him…or so they thought. As a planar champion, the half-ogre had the innate ability to see the invisible, and he marked every move the killers made. Unfortunately, he felt no aggression towards them…only a pervading sense of calm. Unwittingly, the warrior had wandered into Caine’s aura, and now felt no urge to fight at all. This ended quickly, however, when the first of the assassins struck at him. Shaking his head in momentary confusion, Grimm instantly recovered, whirling his chain at the second man, and sweeping him from his feet.
The first assassin was now rendered visible after his failed sneak attack on Grimm, and Caine began another spell. As the man was preparing for a second attempt at the half-ogre, he suddenly felt a strange sensation come over him. The white-bearded man to his left was a friend…a very good friend. Why was he raising a sword against this man? What was he doing here in the first place?
Caine smiled, seeing that his charm had worked like…well, a charm. “Leave this one!” he shouted to his companions, “He is under my protection.”
Rusty looked around for an opponent, and then heard a subtle footstep from behind him. Spinning, his hammer connected solidly with his unseen attacker. Grimm brought his chain down on the man who lay sprawled at his feet, ending his life with one blow, and then in the same motion, snapped the whip over Rusty’s head, impaling the invisible assassin there.
From her prison, the priestess looked out at the carnage in impotent rage. Her gaze fixed on Caine. “This is not over, old man!” she spat. “The wrath of Kelemvor be on your head!” She then pulled a rolled parchment from her belt, read several arcane phrases from it, and promptly vanished.
“Plane shifted,” Kaurophon sighed as he witnessed the magical effect. “All the better for us. Let’s keep moving.”
_______________________________________________________
As they kept walking, once again catching up to Tilly, Caine kept pace with his newfound friend. “Tell me your name my boy, as I seem to have forgotten it.”
“Truhl Stockman,” the man replied, “For some reason, I cannot recall yours either sir.”
“Caine,” the apostle said calmly. “So Truhl, what were you and your friends doing in such a desolate place? Who was that woman?”
“Her name is Velasia,” Truhl replied, “She is a priestess of our order.”
“Kelemvor?” Caine asked, “You serve Kelemvor as well? In what capacity?”
“As a trained killer,” Truhl replied without hesitation. “I serve as I am instructed. Velasia was sent here to find something called the Lens of the Blacksun. She thought that the dead might have information as to its whereabouts.”
“I see,” Caine replied, “Can you tell me anything about this item, or her purpose in seeking it?”
“I was not told more than that,” said Truhl, “My job was to follow Velasia’s orders, and protect her.”
Caine nodded. “Suppose I told you that you have been misguided Truhl. I fear you have been too long upon a path of darkness. You and I will discuss many things in the coming days, and I shall endeavor to convince you of the error of your ways. The Lords of Good, whom I serve, are infinitely more powerful that the petty evils that you have followed. Ah, but I see skepticism in your eyes. Allow me a small demonstration. That dagger you carry. Stab me through the heart with it.”
Truhl’s eyes went wide. “No! Never!”
Caine smiled, “Trust me.”
Hesitantly, Truhl drew out his blade, raising it above his head. Then, with one powerful plunge, he struck Caine in the chest. His eyes went even wider as the dagger shattered into a thousand pieces upon the apostle’s flesh.
“You see,” Caine said, still smiling, “the power of the Light is infinite.”
_______________________________________________________
In silence, the companions continued on their winding course thru the quiet battlefield. At one point they found themselves in the middle of a clearing, surrounded on all sides by the opaque cocoons. Suddenly, Tilly felt the now familiar disorientation of a teleportation effect. Despair filled him. What had they done wrong? However, this time he didn’t reappear on the edge of the plain of cysts. Instead, he saw that he and his companions now stood in a clearing, surrounded by fibrous growths that sprouted from the spongy ground and wavered in the air, some reaching ten feet in height. Another mummy stood in the center of the clearing. “Heed the words of Adimarchus,” the corpse intoned. “You have passed the Test of Resolve. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Let neither riches nor weaponry, neither allies nor enemies, tempt you from your course. Instead, spread such distractions before your rivals. The lantern shall guide you to the final test: the Test of Sacrifice. Your ascension to the throne of Adimarchus draws nigh!” The mummy then vanished in a flash of acrid smoke and wet light. Tilly glanced down at the small lantern that he held, and saw that its silver light now pointed unerringly to the skull-like mountain at the center of Occipitus…
____________________________________________________
From deep within the shadows of the fibrous forest, Kiko watched the strange gathering. He’d been camped here for the better part of a day, trying to stay one step ahead of the horrible inhabitants of this gods-forsaken place. He’d been preparing to move on again, searching for some safe haven, when the mummy had appeared out of thin air, and seated itself on the ground as if in meditation. Intrigued, he’d watched the creature for several hours, and then suddenly, this new group had appeared. He might have had better luck with the mummy. One of them appeared to be an ogre, though a smallish one. Then there was a dwarf, an elf, one figure shrouded in a black robe, and a human along with an odd sort of animal with a wicked horn on the end of its snout. However, there was one that caught his attention in particular. An old man, clad in little more than rags, stood to one side. He was non-descript, and certainly not particularly impressive, but he seemed to radiate a palpable aura of goodness. Kiko knew that logically this was probably another trap devised by the demons of this land to lure unsuspecting prey to their deaths. Still, it was the first real glimpse of hope that he’d had since arriving here so unexpectedly more than a week ago. Kiko was a monastic, a brother of the Order of the Yellow Rose. His clan was devoted to the peaceful teachings of the Crying God, Ilmater, yet his particular sect was charged with the defense of the more pacifist priests. In fact, he had been carrying out his duty by defending the monastery from an unexpected assault by Banites, when the evil high priest of the intruders suddenly seized him by the arm, uttering some guttural incantation, and the next thing he knew, he was in the Abyss. Now, finally, he might have found some possibility of rescue. Moving cat-like through the shadows, he began following the motley group.
_________________________________________________________
Most of the day passed uneventfully, but as what passed for twilight in the Abyss approached, Kiko saw something that both intrigued and alarmed him. The halfling with the lantern was leading the group through another grove of the fibrous trees, eyes focused on the path ahead. Though shadows lay deep across the forest, some of them were too deep. Kiko’s sharp eyes spotted one dark pool in particular that appeared to move of its own volition, independent from those around it that swayed in response to the trees above them. As the halfling passed by the area, the shadow detached itself, seeming to take on a vaguely humanoid shape, and reaching out to grab for his neck. The halfling cried out in pain and terror, recoiling violently back from his assailant. Immediately, his friends sprang into motion to rush to his side, but they were too far away. He had stumbled to the ground in his panic, and the shadow was closing fast. Kiko knew that only he could hope to assist the halfling before it was upon him. Throwing caution to the wind, the monk erupted from his concealment, sprinting down a small hillock towards the melee. He reached the halfling’s side just as the shadow moved in. “I’m here to help,” he said, reaching out to touch the terrified halfling’s shoulder. With a shriek, the halfling leaped away from him, swinging a sword at him as he went. Confused, Kiko narrowly avoided the clutching hands of the shadow, which was now right behind him. Suddenly, an enormous, whip-like spiked chain sliced the air inches from his head. “Back abyssal-spawn!” cried the ogre, who had arrived and positioned himself between the halfling, and Kiko and the shadow. “Wait!” the monk pleaded, hands outstretched, “You don’t understand!” With a roar, the ogre lunged towards him. Kiko threw himself into a shoulder roll, coming up in a ready crouch behind the beast, which was now face to face with the shadow. Too bad for the shadow. It took only a few quick flicks of the wickedly spiked chain to dispatch the creature back to its shadowy home, and then the ogre turned to face Kiko once more. By this time, his companions had approached, and Kiko found himself surrounded.
The old man in sackcloth approached, and Kiko felt a wave of peace and calm fall over him. The nimbus of goodness that surrounded the beggar further quelled the monk’s immediate sense of danger. “Be at ease stranger,” the old man said, “We mean no harm to you. You merely startled my already edgy friends. I am Caine. My companions and I are travelers here from Faerun. We seek to redeem this place of evil and restore it to its former celestial glory. Who are you?” Kiko felt no dishonesty from the one called Caine. In fact, he immediately trusted the man implicitly. “I am Kusimatai, called Kiko,” he replied. “I too am from Faerun. My order is that of the Yellow Rose. We serve the Crying God. I was brought here against my will by a Banite priest, and now only seek a way to return home.” Caine smiled sympathetically. “It is fortuitous then that we have found each other. We plan to return to Faerun upon the completion of our quest. We would welcome your companionship, and we will gladly take you with us when we depart.”
_______________________________________________________
The next day’s journey was even less peaceful, and after an encounter with not one, but three more Hezrou, the companions decided that the shortest distance between two points involved a bag of holding and a teleporting archon. Jules deposited the group approximately one mile from the looming skull-mountain so that they could get their bearings from the lantern once again. Once again, they found the landscape had changed, and not for the better. The fibrous forest had been replaced by another plain of the skin-like soil, only this time, the surface was covered as far as the eye could see with shallow pools that looked like nothing so much as open, weeping sores filled with a purulent, foul-smelling fluid. Periodically, some of these pools would erupt into a geyser of pus. “Charming,” Wathros muttered as he gazed out across the vast wasteland they would have to cross. “Ha!” Rusty barked. “If ye like that, then ye’re sure to love this!” The dwarf gestured towards the sky, where the roiling plasms flashed crimson across the hellish landscape. Far in the distance, but moving closer by the second, was a large, flying shape that could only be described as draconic…
THE ROAD TO PERDITION
Tilly held the dangling lantern firmly in two hands, gazing out across the vast plain of cyst-like cocoons and trying in vain to see the point where its silver lance of light was directed. This was going to be their third, or fourth attempt to cross the battlefield. He’d lost count, and only hoped it would be their last.
“Let’s go,” Kaurophon hissed, “We’ve wasted enough time already, and this time I beg you all to stay focused! I don’t care if it’s your own mother you see beckoning to you from the grave, keep moving!”
Once again they began following the unseen path indicated by the lantern across the plain of cysts. Tilly tried to keep his eyes straight ahead, ignoring the vaguely humanoid shapes and glowing objects encased within the ovoids all around him. So it was, that directly in front of him he spied what appeared to be an insectile leg behind a particularly large cyst. He heard a sinister hiss as he passed around the edge of the cocoon. To his horror, the large leg was attached to an even larger body…a gigantic spider-like creature with four huge, glowing eyes! It appeared to be engrossed with excavating a suit of armor from the cyst, and for the moment paid no heed to the halfling. “Move!” he heard Kaurophon whisper from behind him, but when he turned, the sorcerer was nowhere to be seen. Invisible again, Tilly sighed to himself. It must be nice to be able to be so brave and unseen at the same time.
“Yes, keep moving,” this from Wathros, but Tilly saw that the druid was not around either. Instead, the now familiar form of a huge rhinoceros stood grimly facing the spider. One by one Tilly’s friends gathered around the rhino as the abyssal arachnid now slowly raised its alien head, regarding these intruders coldly. They were buying him time, he knew, possibly with their lives. Regardless of his misgivings, he couldn’t waste the opportunity, so the little rogue kept walking resolutely forward, following the path of the beam.
Rusty began edging away from the spider, meaning to follow Tilly in case the halfling ran into further trouble up the path, but at that moment, one of the beast’s eyes rotated independently of the other three to focus directly on him. The orb began glowing ice blue, and then a frigid beam of cold energy lanced out from it, striking the priest squarely in the chest. Simultaneously, a second eye generated a scorching red ray, sending it towards Caine. Frantically culling his memory, the apostle was able to put a name to the creature…a retriever…sort of a demonic bloodhound, used by its evil masters to find fugitives. This was not good.
Recovering from the icy blow, Rusty gathered his prayers, and then sent an answering blast of energy, this one pure holiness, back at the demon. It roared in pain, and then in shock as a spray of diamond-like shards ripped thru its hide. The rhino/druid snorted in satisfaction as he saw the effects of his own casting.
Patting at his still smoldering robes, Caine stepped quickly to the hulking form of Grimm. “You’re on my friend,” he said, reaching out to touch the half-ogre, who instantly disappeared from view. If the retriever had been able to see Grimm’s face, the demon might actually have been given a moment’s pause by the look of cunning and satisfaction there. The huge warrior stalked toward the monster, as now a crackle of electricity shot from a third eye, again striking Rusty. In the mean time, Kaurophon, from a safe distance, launched a cone of freezing air at the demon, further adding to the damage it had already sustained. Grimm saw that it was prime pickings now. Whirling his massive chain above his head, he snapped it forward in two devastating cracks, opening gaping rents in the retriever’s hide. The spider shrieked in agony, lashing out blindly in the direction from which the attack had come, but finding nothing there. As it turned frantically this way and that, Grimm stepped in for one final blow, caving in the beast’s skull.
_____________________________________________________________
The party quickly caught up to Tilly. It appeared that their idea had worked. Come what may, the lantern bearer had to keep moving along the path to avoid being returned back to the beginning of the battlefield. They were still congratulating themselves on their ingenuity, when Kaurophon motioned them to silence, gesturing ahead of them. Between two cysts stood four humans cloaked in black. One of them, a woman, held aloft a skull, while the other three leaned on shovels. They instantly came alert as they spotted the approaching companions.
As the group drew nearer, Caine saw that the woman wore a holy symbol around her neck. To his shocked amazement, it was that of Kelemvor, protector of the dead. What would a priest of Kelemvor be doing desecrating a gravesite, especially a celestial one. Indignant, the apostle strode boldly forward, motioning the others to continue moving, Tilly in particular. “You there!” the sorcerer called, “What is the meaning of this? How dare you despoil this holy place? You are supposed to be a shepherd of the departed.”
“Aye,” Rusty said, joining Caine and prominently displaying his own holy symbol. “It would appear we all serve the powers of good here sister. Can ye explain yerself?”
The priestess narrowed her eyes in contempt, “Do not presume to preach to me, infidels! You know nothing of the will of Kelemvor! Your presence here is unfortunate…for you. You have borne witness to more than you should, but no matter. The Lord of the Dead is ever seeking new souls!” The woman began weaving a spell, and her three companions were a blur of motion. Each of them retrieved a small vial from their belts, quaffing them and disappearing.
Caine, reacting to the incantation of the priestess, quickly began his own, completing it a fraction of a second before the Kelemvorite. The woman suddenly found herself enveloped in sphere of resilient force, imprisoned but not harmed. Cursing roundly, she hurled spell after spell at the cocoon, all to no avail.
Grimm allowed a slight smile to steal over his face as the three assassins closed in unseen around him…or so they thought. As a planar champion, the half-ogre had the innate ability to see the invisible, and he marked every move the killers made. Unfortunately, he felt no aggression towards them…only a pervading sense of calm. Unwittingly, the warrior had wandered into Caine’s aura, and now felt no urge to fight at all. This ended quickly, however, when the first of the assassins struck at him. Shaking his head in momentary confusion, Grimm instantly recovered, whirling his chain at the second man, and sweeping him from his feet.
The first assassin was now rendered visible after his failed sneak attack on Grimm, and Caine began another spell. As the man was preparing for a second attempt at the half-ogre, he suddenly felt a strange sensation come over him. The white-bearded man to his left was a friend…a very good friend. Why was he raising a sword against this man? What was he doing here in the first place?
Caine smiled, seeing that his charm had worked like…well, a charm. “Leave this one!” he shouted to his companions, “He is under my protection.”
Rusty looked around for an opponent, and then heard a subtle footstep from behind him. Spinning, his hammer connected solidly with his unseen attacker. Grimm brought his chain down on the man who lay sprawled at his feet, ending his life with one blow, and then in the same motion, snapped the whip over Rusty’s head, impaling the invisible assassin there.
From her prison, the priestess looked out at the carnage in impotent rage. Her gaze fixed on Caine. “This is not over, old man!” she spat. “The wrath of Kelemvor be on your head!” She then pulled a rolled parchment from her belt, read several arcane phrases from it, and promptly vanished.
“Plane shifted,” Kaurophon sighed as he witnessed the magical effect. “All the better for us. Let’s keep moving.”
_______________________________________________________
As they kept walking, once again catching up to Tilly, Caine kept pace with his newfound friend. “Tell me your name my boy, as I seem to have forgotten it.”
“Truhl Stockman,” the man replied, “For some reason, I cannot recall yours either sir.”
“Caine,” the apostle said calmly. “So Truhl, what were you and your friends doing in such a desolate place? Who was that woman?”
“Her name is Velasia,” Truhl replied, “She is a priestess of our order.”
“Kelemvor?” Caine asked, “You serve Kelemvor as well? In what capacity?”
“As a trained killer,” Truhl replied without hesitation. “I serve as I am instructed. Velasia was sent here to find something called the Lens of the Blacksun. She thought that the dead might have information as to its whereabouts.”
“I see,” Caine replied, “Can you tell me anything about this item, or her purpose in seeking it?”
“I was not told more than that,” said Truhl, “My job was to follow Velasia’s orders, and protect her.”
Caine nodded. “Suppose I told you that you have been misguided Truhl. I fear you have been too long upon a path of darkness. You and I will discuss many things in the coming days, and I shall endeavor to convince you of the error of your ways. The Lords of Good, whom I serve, are infinitely more powerful that the petty evils that you have followed. Ah, but I see skepticism in your eyes. Allow me a small demonstration. That dagger you carry. Stab me through the heart with it.”
Truhl’s eyes went wide. “No! Never!”
Caine smiled, “Trust me.”
Hesitantly, Truhl drew out his blade, raising it above his head. Then, with one powerful plunge, he struck Caine in the chest. His eyes went even wider as the dagger shattered into a thousand pieces upon the apostle’s flesh.
“You see,” Caine said, still smiling, “the power of the Light is infinite.”
_______________________________________________________
In silence, the companions continued on their winding course thru the quiet battlefield. At one point they found themselves in the middle of a clearing, surrounded on all sides by the opaque cocoons. Suddenly, Tilly felt the now familiar disorientation of a teleportation effect. Despair filled him. What had they done wrong? However, this time he didn’t reappear on the edge of the plain of cysts. Instead, he saw that he and his companions now stood in a clearing, surrounded by fibrous growths that sprouted from the spongy ground and wavered in the air, some reaching ten feet in height. Another mummy stood in the center of the clearing. “Heed the words of Adimarchus,” the corpse intoned. “You have passed the Test of Resolve. Attend to the wisdom of Adimarchus! Let neither riches nor weaponry, neither allies nor enemies, tempt you from your course. Instead, spread such distractions before your rivals. The lantern shall guide you to the final test: the Test of Sacrifice. Your ascension to the throne of Adimarchus draws nigh!” The mummy then vanished in a flash of acrid smoke and wet light. Tilly glanced down at the small lantern that he held, and saw that its silver light now pointed unerringly to the skull-like mountain at the center of Occipitus…
____________________________________________________
From deep within the shadows of the fibrous forest, Kiko watched the strange gathering. He’d been camped here for the better part of a day, trying to stay one step ahead of the horrible inhabitants of this gods-forsaken place. He’d been preparing to move on again, searching for some safe haven, when the mummy had appeared out of thin air, and seated itself on the ground as if in meditation. Intrigued, he’d watched the creature for several hours, and then suddenly, this new group had appeared. He might have had better luck with the mummy. One of them appeared to be an ogre, though a smallish one. Then there was a dwarf, an elf, one figure shrouded in a black robe, and a human along with an odd sort of animal with a wicked horn on the end of its snout. However, there was one that caught his attention in particular. An old man, clad in little more than rags, stood to one side. He was non-descript, and certainly not particularly impressive, but he seemed to radiate a palpable aura of goodness. Kiko knew that logically this was probably another trap devised by the demons of this land to lure unsuspecting prey to their deaths. Still, it was the first real glimpse of hope that he’d had since arriving here so unexpectedly more than a week ago. Kiko was a monastic, a brother of the Order of the Yellow Rose. His clan was devoted to the peaceful teachings of the Crying God, Ilmater, yet his particular sect was charged with the defense of the more pacifist priests. In fact, he had been carrying out his duty by defending the monastery from an unexpected assault by Banites, when the evil high priest of the intruders suddenly seized him by the arm, uttering some guttural incantation, and the next thing he knew, he was in the Abyss. Now, finally, he might have found some possibility of rescue. Moving cat-like through the shadows, he began following the motley group.
_________________________________________________________
Most of the day passed uneventfully, but as what passed for twilight in the Abyss approached, Kiko saw something that both intrigued and alarmed him. The halfling with the lantern was leading the group through another grove of the fibrous trees, eyes focused on the path ahead. Though shadows lay deep across the forest, some of them were too deep. Kiko’s sharp eyes spotted one dark pool in particular that appeared to move of its own volition, independent from those around it that swayed in response to the trees above them. As the halfling passed by the area, the shadow detached itself, seeming to take on a vaguely humanoid shape, and reaching out to grab for his neck. The halfling cried out in pain and terror, recoiling violently back from his assailant. Immediately, his friends sprang into motion to rush to his side, but they were too far away. He had stumbled to the ground in his panic, and the shadow was closing fast. Kiko knew that only he could hope to assist the halfling before it was upon him. Throwing caution to the wind, the monk erupted from his concealment, sprinting down a small hillock towards the melee. He reached the halfling’s side just as the shadow moved in. “I’m here to help,” he said, reaching out to touch the terrified halfling’s shoulder. With a shriek, the halfling leaped away from him, swinging a sword at him as he went. Confused, Kiko narrowly avoided the clutching hands of the shadow, which was now right behind him. Suddenly, an enormous, whip-like spiked chain sliced the air inches from his head. “Back abyssal-spawn!” cried the ogre, who had arrived and positioned himself between the halfling, and Kiko and the shadow. “Wait!” the monk pleaded, hands outstretched, “You don’t understand!” With a roar, the ogre lunged towards him. Kiko threw himself into a shoulder roll, coming up in a ready crouch behind the beast, which was now face to face with the shadow. Too bad for the shadow. It took only a few quick flicks of the wickedly spiked chain to dispatch the creature back to its shadowy home, and then the ogre turned to face Kiko once more. By this time, his companions had approached, and Kiko found himself surrounded.
The old man in sackcloth approached, and Kiko felt a wave of peace and calm fall over him. The nimbus of goodness that surrounded the beggar further quelled the monk’s immediate sense of danger. “Be at ease stranger,” the old man said, “We mean no harm to you. You merely startled my already edgy friends. I am Caine. My companions and I are travelers here from Faerun. We seek to redeem this place of evil and restore it to its former celestial glory. Who are you?” Kiko felt no dishonesty from the one called Caine. In fact, he immediately trusted the man implicitly. “I am Kusimatai, called Kiko,” he replied. “I too am from Faerun. My order is that of the Yellow Rose. We serve the Crying God. I was brought here against my will by a Banite priest, and now only seek a way to return home.” Caine smiled sympathetically. “It is fortuitous then that we have found each other. We plan to return to Faerun upon the completion of our quest. We would welcome your companionship, and we will gladly take you with us when we depart.”
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The next day’s journey was even less peaceful, and after an encounter with not one, but three more Hezrou, the companions decided that the shortest distance between two points involved a bag of holding and a teleporting archon. Jules deposited the group approximately one mile from the looming skull-mountain so that they could get their bearings from the lantern once again. Once again, they found the landscape had changed, and not for the better. The fibrous forest had been replaced by another plain of the skin-like soil, only this time, the surface was covered as far as the eye could see with shallow pools that looked like nothing so much as open, weeping sores filled with a purulent, foul-smelling fluid. Periodically, some of these pools would erupt into a geyser of pus. “Charming,” Wathros muttered as he gazed out across the vast wasteland they would have to cross. “Ha!” Rusty barked. “If ye like that, then ye’re sure to love this!” The dwarf gestured towards the sky, where the roiling plasms flashed crimson across the hellish landscape. Far in the distance, but moving closer by the second, was a large, flying shape that could only be described as draconic…
Neverwinter Knight
First Post
Thanks JD! And a very nice update it is! Is the monk the new guy you were talking about?JollyDoc said:
PugioilAudacio
First Post
THANKS! I can't access the computer from 5pm today until Sat night and I was worried I wasn't gonna be able to read the update in time. Once again - You Rock!
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