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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joe Jolly" data-source="post: 7407280" data-attributes="member: 6870626">22 Sarenith, 4718 - 15 Erastus, 4718 - The Return Of The Eye EaterOnce all four talismans were placed into their respective slots in the medusa fresco on the floor of the columbarium, the Nessian Knot stepped into its center. An instant later they found themselves somewhere else entirely. The ceiling of the grand chamber peaked high overhead, and was covered with frescoes depicting the prophecy of Aroden's return. In mockery of this, however, a massive fresco on one wall depicted an infernal figure, black as soot, with the head of a goat and hairy bat wings. The devil held a wicked-looking scythe in one hand and with the other fed a brazier fire with pages from a book entitled, The Prophecies of Aroden. A huge, defiled symbol of Aroden, its wings clipped bloodily, occupied the opposite wall. A massive iron statue of the Medusa Triumphant dominated one end of the chamber. It depicted a naked medusa standing over a decapitated corpse, holding a sword in her right hand, blade parallel to the ground. The other arm was extended, grasping her grisly trophy by the curls, gore dripping from where the head was severed from its body. “I like this!” Dakota exclaimed. “Gives me some decor ideas for the castle I plan to build once we kill everyone on this damnable island.”Beyond the impressive entry chamber lay a barrel-vaulted chamber which contained four shimmering pools, each about a foot deep and displaying a highly detailed mosaic of a cockatrice at its center, composed of fake precious stones. Predictably, the images were traps, meant to turn their viewers to stone, but the mostly undead members of the Nessian Knot were immune to such chicanery, and their living members made of sterner stuff. Several doors led from the room, but all proved false save for a concealed one which Katarina easily found. Through the door lay another grand chamber. The massive domed room was painted with knotted geometric designs in muted reds and golds. Another Medusa Triumphant statue dominated the alcove at the room's far end. An inscription decorated the statue's base: “Come out further on our Ledge. Sheathe in me the Family's Edge. Take the Soot inside my Core. Scatter Ash past Stony Door. Walk into the Scarlet Light. Witness when the Dead had Sight. Two Sad Tales are both revealed. Truth and Fraud, No more concealed. Newfound Wisdom tastes of Bile, And never shall We reconcile”The inscription meant nothing to the companions, and there was still no sign of what they had come for, so they pressed on. The final chamber’s high ceiling was held aloft by pristine granite pillars. The walls were covered in murals depicting battle scenes, while a large aquarium occupied the far end of the room, framed in iron and with thick glass. Four elaborate chairs of carved mahogany sat before the water-filled tank, while a great Qadiran rug of intricate geometric designs covered the floor. Front and center in the aquarium floated a bloated, unusually preserved corpse, its arms and legs shackled with chains attached to floor and ceiling, clad in an  extraordinarily wrought breastplate emblazoned with the cross-eyed medusa, and bobbing in the green-hued water. The pommel of a sword protruded from the body's belly. The floating cadaver's dead eyes were wide open, and its black hair wafted back and forth, as though cast about by a gentle breeze. A bronze plaque, green with age, mounted on the glass above, read: “‘Then Let Them Drink'— Bartolomae Adella, 4496–4542.” A gilded bathtub stood to the corpse's left, its legs great lion's paws. Thick seaweed grew at the back of the tank, obscuring whatever might lay at the rear of the grisly aquatic display.Tardaesha climbed to the top of the tank which was covered by a roof of iron. A hatch was set into the middle of the plate, a rusted wheel in its center. The vampiress had no difficulty turning the stiff wheel nor lifting the heavy hatch. Once opened, she dropped into the murky water below. She swam down to the corpse and peered closely at the blade. The pommel bore an engraving, Infensus Mucro, and the blade was etched with the phrase: “This is our answer.”Tardaesha also saw that something was concealed in the weeds behind the corpse, a sealed, watertight chest of iron. She gripped the pommel of the sword and slid it free from the body. No sooner had she done so than three of the pillars supporting the chamber’s roof instantly melted into foul-smelling filth, transforming into slithering, semi-humanoid forms made of sludge and ooze, but with hideous gaping mouths—omox demons.The demons immediately set about conjuring clouds of acidic fog around the intruders, as well as hurling balls of sticky slime among them, which stuck fast, entangling limbs. Tardaesha quickly teleported herself out of the tank to aid her friends, who were already engaging the demons. Kelvin hurled fireballs at the creatures, while Grumblejack charged headlong at them. Tardaesha, Kat and Roger joined him while Dakota laid down withering fire with her bow. The battle was over quickly and the last of the guardians was banished back to Hell. Tardaesha retrieved the chest from the aquarium and brought it back to her companions. Kat quickly picked the lock and opened it, retrieving various valuables and magical trinkets. Nestled in the midst of it all was a pure obsidian chalice. Roger drew it out reverently. “At last,” he breathed. “Good,” Kelvin nodded. “Now let’s get out of this cursed place.”_____________________________________________________________________As the group passed back through the chamber which held the large Medusa Triumphant statue, Dakota paused, peering closely at the sculpture. “Sheathe in me the Family’s Edge,” she muttered. She turned to Tardaesha.“Let me see that sword you found.”Tardaesha looked skeptical, but held the blade out to her sister. Dak took it, unsheathed it, then plunged the blade into a small slot that she had just noticed in the statue’s belly. At that moment, a stone block at the chamber's far end descended to reveal an alcove wherein stood a second medusa statue. An instant later, the first medusa statue animated and attacks. Dakota was not entirely surprised by the development, and was not caught unprepared. As the giant statue rushed towards them, she loosed a quartet of arrows into it. Each struck true, and the statue abruptly shattered into hundreds of pieces. In its remains rested the ancestral blade, as well as a large amount of sooty ash. “Scatter ash past stony door,” Dak said as she bent to retrieve a handful of the dust.She walked to where the new statue had been revealed and cast the dust inside. That area immediately began to  shimmer and glow with a crimson radiance. A moment later, blasts of light radiated outward, striking everyone in the chamber...____________________________________________________________________The companions found themselves standing in a large tent. Braziers lit what looked to be a military command tent. The general himself—a towering man with handsome features, clad in elaborate breastplate armor—stood on the edge of an elegant Qadiran rug. A gaggle of junior officers, priests, and aristocrats stood before the tent flap and an armor mannequin. The members of the Ninth Knot could see one another, though they looked like ghostly apparitions to themselves. None of the other occupants of the tent seemed to notice them. Kelvin recognized the general as Bartolomae Adella, which would place the time during Taldor’s campaign against Qadira.“Well, let's get it over with,” the general intoned haughtily, gesturing to an Arodenite priest carrying a fancy cage containing two fine roosters. The general cast several types of honeyed grain on the ground to the waiting fowl, but to everyone's chagrin, and the general's fury, the sacred birds did nothing. After an impossible silence, one of the nobles muttered in an awkward tone, “They… do not eat.” To everyone's horror, the general grabbed the sacred animals by their feathered necks, stormed over to an elegant bathtub and held them under the soapy water, hissing, “Then by Aroden's damned eyes, let them drink!” The shocked gathering was paralyzed by the general's hideous blasphemy. He stood seething at the edge of his tub, the limp, dripping carcasses gripped tightly in either hand, glowering at the witnesses to his monstrous sacrilege. Finally, a junior tribune blurted out, “Brother, I will fetch your warhorse!”Kelvin recognized the younger man. It was Cadimus Adella. Kelvin was also aware that the practice of using fowl to seek good omens by observing what kind of grain that ate had fallen out of favor some time after the Taldan-Qadiran conflict.The general roused from his rage and dropped the ruined birds on the rug, then strode to the tent's entrance. “Tribune!” he shouted to the nearest lieutenant, indicating the long map-covered table. “Gather my battle plans! We march on this Qadiran rabble at once!”The military tribunes scattered to their duties. When the general attempted to plow past the collection of onlookers at the tent entrance, a red-haired prelate grabbed him by his rich cape and spoke in a cold, furious tone.“I know not what will happen this day, Bartolomae, but be assured of this: the tree of thy family shall wither and bear fruit no more. This is the last of your blasphemies in Taldor's name. From this day forward your name will be cursed along with that of your whole arrogant brood!” The general shoved the indignant cleric to the ground, and shook his blade as he hissed.“You may thank your damnable Aroden that I have other blood to spill today, lackey; otherwise I would take Infensus Mucro and run you through!”Roger recognized the sword as the very one they had just recovered and reassembled. Later, the general's tent stood empty. The mannequin lay on its side, the dead birds still heaped on the floor. The brutal cacophony of battle could be heard in the distance. Suddenly, the general burst through the tent flap, gore-caked sword in hand, face smeared with dirt, blood spattered over his flamboyant breastplate. The military tribune who broke the silence earlier followed him, also splashed with the filth of battle. “All is lost, Cadimus,” he panted to the younger man. “Those damned dervishes rolled up my left flank as though it were made of paper!” Cadimus's silence was his assent. The general shook his sword before his own face, cursing, “You! You have done this to me! All of it! You have murdered us all!” He turned to Cadimus, nodding as though finishing a conversation. “‘Sheathe me in my master's blood' was the line, no? To put the damned thing back to sleep?” Cadimus nodded back, still speechless. Staring into space, trancelike, the general whispered hoarsely to him. “Do what you can to salvage this, my brother. Beldam would have our heads. Pressure Micheaux to aid us—he will be king before long and we must use what leverage we have. Perhaps you could prevail upon our dear sister to utilize her... relationship, with him? If not... ha! Maybe Asmodeus will assist. I go to face the gods' wrath. You are the head of our House now, brother. Bury me with sufficient irony.” A strange look of calm came over the general's face as he got to his knees at the corner of the rug. He planted the pommel of Infensus Mucro and lifted his armor at the waist, allowing the blade's point to taste his bare abdomen. With a suddenness that made Cadimus gasp, Bartolomae sprang forward, forcing the blade up into his chest—a torrent of blood splashed out onto the Qadiran rug, the florid stain spreading as he collapsed to the ground. A moment later, a vertiginous blackness swept everything away._________________________________________________________________There was a momentary sensation of vertigo, and then...A fire burned in the hearth of a well-appointed room. Three men stood about a bed—a handsome man with rolled-up sleeves holding a crying newborn, and two others. In the bed lay a frightfully pale, sweat-drenched woman, her dark hair cascading over damp pillows. Her bedclothes were soaked with blood, and her eyes stared into space; she was not breathing.Kelvin recognized the man holding the newborn child. It was none other than Grand Prince Micheaux, one of Taldor's former rulers and the father of Stavian I. He appeared much younger than he did in the majority of the art that depicted him in the modern day. One of the other men was Cadimus Adella, and the woman in the bed was his sister, Lucretia, obviously before she had become a maddened vampire. “Just as well,” the handsome man said, a single tear running down a cheek, “with all her ranting about seeing the boy grow up. She knew she could never have been a part of his life.” His attention turned to the child he held. He nodded approvingly, wiped the tear from his cheek, then lay three fingers on the squealing infant's forehead. “Stavian,” he crooned. “You, too, shall be king in your turn.” “Our bargain, Micheaux,” stammered Cadimus, almost absently. The other man's eyes flashed with grief, and then filled with anger as he whirled upon Cadimus. When he spoke, his voice was cold and grim. “Our ‘bargain' died with your sister, Cadimus. You are the last of your damned line, and even that is too much. But I shall grant you one last mercy nonetheless—leave Taldor by dawn, and I'll not send my army after you. The next time I see an Adella face in my empire, it had best be in a grave.” He turned with the baby in his arm, and walked regally for the door, oblivious to Cadimus's trembling fury. “We go to meet our destiny,” he cooed to the squealing infant.Time seemed to drift, then...In the same bedchamber, now oppressively hot, the same woman lay lifeless in the bed, though someone had mercifully closed her eyes. Micheaux and the infant were gone and Cadimus handed a baton to the apron-clad man. “Hide this downstairs before we leave, Parsimus. I know you saw it in the bastard's eyes. He has no intention of honoring even his last promise—he'll have his thugs on us within the hour. We must seek the only safe place left to us—the Tomb of the Iron Medusa. There we can rest and regroup and make plans for the future. The baton contains the key to finding the tomb—if I die before you, ensure that someone you trust knows where you've hidden it. Someday, someone will need to know the truth.” He looked over at his sister's dead body. “And secure a coffin for my sister. I am not going to leave her here. She comes with us.” He turned to face the other man, who still seemed frozen in shock. “Go, damn you!” Cadimus spat, and finally the other man turned and left the room.“The Adellas are truly abandoned by Aroden,” Cadimus said with dismal certitude to an empty room. “The gods laugh at us... but perhaps my brother was right after all... perhaps there is one left who might listen...” He paused, a look of dread and determination washing over his countenance. He took up his dead sister's hand in his own, held it to his brow, and then uttered a prayer of blasphemy. “Asmodeus! Asmodeus, I call on thee! Blood and my everlasting soul if you would but allow me to protect my family and bring my dear sister back to me!” A sudden light flickered in air, shimmering as if heated by fire. Then the shimmer grew more substantial, becoming a shapeless mass of tangible evil and immense power. A voice sweet as honey and sharper than any razor emanated from the malevolent presence. “A bargain? You would seek to bargain with me, mortal?”__________________________________________________________________With that final development, the vision suddenly ended and the companions found themselves once more in the bowels of the tomb, momentarily staggered by the abrupt transition. At that same moment, the conviction that, somehow, Asmodeus noticed them observing those secret events filled each of their minds. With a flash of noxious smoke, four vile shapes manifested in the room. They vaguely resembled 12-foot-tall human women with large clawed wings, hideous fanged faces, and bodies clad in strips of metal and leather that seemed almost to be growing from angry wounds in their flesh, and each wielded a grisly metal scythe that seemed almost to have grown from its arms.“You have knowledge which is not yours, mortals,” one of the fiends intoned. “The Lord of Lies has decreed that knowledge should not leave this place.”“I am the high priestess of Asmodeus in Talingarde,” Tardaesha stepped boldly forward, her pentagram holy symbol blatantly displayed.“It matters not,” the fiend replied. “You may be favored by our Lord, but you do not hold all of his confidences. If you are truly in his grace, then perhaps you will survive the next five minutes!”Four arrows abruptly bristled from the devil’s neck, and it evaporated into smoke and ash.“But you won’t,” Dakota sneered.The remaining three devils held out their hands, and dark magic poured from them, designed to suck the very moisture from the flesh of the living. Unfortunately for them, most of their opponents were no long among the living. One by one, the ashmede devils were dispatched by the Ninth Knot. As the last one fell, Tardaesha leaned towards it.“Tell our Lord, when you see him, that his faith has not been misplaced.”_____________________________________________________________InterludeKelvin looked up from the writing desk when the door to his room opened. The sounds of Oppara’s nightlife drifted in through the open window as Katarina ghosted into the suite. “It’s done,” his younger sister said. “And the terms?” Kelvin asked.“Seventy-thousand gold crowns,” Kat smiled.Kelvin smiled toothily in return.“Well done, little kitten,” he said. “I thought that the Borge’ family might pay handsomely for evidence that would call into question the legitimacy of the Stavian line of Taldor, but I never dreamed their hatred of their rivals ran so deep.”“Never underestimate the power of greed, brother,” Kat laughed. “Just look at all that we have undertaken to gain the throne of Talingarde. Let’s be honest, our little island is not exactly a crown jewel. But Taldor? Now that’s another story entirely. The Borges’ would have paid far more in coin for that prize, but of course the greater payoff for us is the powerful allies we shall gain when both their star and ours finally ascends.”________________________________________________________________Over the next several weeks, while Roger secluded himself and worked feverishly on his phylactery with the help of the Obsidian Chalice, the remainder of the Nessian Knot bided their time in the abandoned ruins of a baronial state secluded in the country side. Once Roger’s task was completed, they planned to continue their quest for Thorn’s own phylactery. Fate, however, had other plans in store.As the companions sat about their fire one evening, discussing things to come, the now-familiar smell of brimstone filled the air around them, along with a flash of crimson light and billowing yellow smoke. Three figures emerged from the miasma, one human, and two distinctly not. One of them was truly gargantuan in proportions, crowned with a wicked array of twisted horns. The wide-mouthed, spherical behemoth stood on four stout legs. The other bore the appearance of a leukodaemon, but with six arms, each bearing a wickedly curved dagger, and three baleful eye sockets, one of them empty.“Vetra-Kali-Eats-The-Eyes has missed your companionship,” the human said as he moved into the light. “As have I. We grew tired of waiting on you to pay your respects, now that your power has grown, so instead, we have come to you. You may now say your prayers to your damnable demon lord.”Halthus the Slayer grinned evilly as Vetra-Kali cackled in sadistic glee.</blockquote>

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