Medriev's FR Pyramid of Shadows - Concluded Nov 1

[Medriev]

Chapter 9 - Beasts and Mazes (Part 4)

The companions rested in the eastern end of the chamber for a few hours while Telkya tended their wounds and then examined their way forward. Doors led out of the room to the north and south at the eastern end of the room and after some debate, they opted for the southern portal. This led them into a winding passage that turned left and right before turning east and opening into a wide chamber with its floor, ceiling and walls covered with thick, rich earth. Before them, the companions saw a dense thicket that reached from floor to ceiling, forming a wall that would force them to turn to the right or to the left. A dim yellow glow filled the room, and the thickets were dense enough to block vision. Their vines were covered with long, sharp thorns making them a barrier to passage as well as to sight.
“We go this way,” Erlmoor announced and started forward down the right hand path.

He had not gone far when he paused as he saw a creature around the corner ahead of him. It had brown skin similar in texture to tree bark and was dressed in a ragged grey tunic and breeches. It had a short sword on its belt and as the dragonborn started forward, it drew the blade and then shrank away to the north. Once it had retreated a certain distance, it seemed to blend into the vines and thorns its stood next to and vanished.
“Arboreans,” Erlmoor called out as he recognised the rarely seen forest creatures.

Then he paused as he saw a horse-sized bore covered in thick, bristly hair. Its muscled legs pawed and stamped as it saw the paladin and its great tusks quiver with bloodlust. Slowly it turned towards Erlmoor and he knew that it would charge.
“A boar!” he called out to the others. “They have a boar as well.”

Litiraan rushed forward to aid Erlmoor, raising his wand and his sword as he reached the area of tangled vines and roots in which Erlmoor now stood. He moved forward slowly to stand at the dragonborn’s left shoulder and made ready as best he could for the boar’s inevitable charge. When it came, the beast charged in a fury of hooves and tusks, grossing the ground between it and Erlmoor in a heartbeat. As it reached the dragonborn, he stepped to one side and as it lashed out with its horns, he leapt back. Frustrated, the boar backed up a few steps and snorted, sizing up its foe. Erlmoor raised his sword and prepared to meet its next surge forward.

Dulvarna looked nervously toward the left hand passage past the thicket before her but then decided that Erlmoor needed her aid more. She rushed forward to where Litiraan stood and then surged into battle, raising her sword above her head and then bringing it down on the boar’s back. The beast squealed and snorted and moved back another step, out of reach of its foe’s dangerous blade. It regarded the dragonborn and the warrior woman with fierce eyes and pawed at the ground as it prepared to charge again.

Telkya looked to the left and the right but quickly made up her mind. She raised her sword and took her amulet in her left hand before starting off down the left hand passage.
“This way,” she called back to Lavren and Enlishia. “We may be able to come around behind the boar.”

The elf maid rushed off down the narrow left passage that snaked around to the left and then left again, doubling back toward the west wall of the chamber. A buttress of stone formed the left wall of the passage as it doubled back and hid her companions from view. The passage widened and turned right ahead of her then and as she turned right, she saw movement. There, a few steps away to her right, stood a brown-skinned man-like creature in a tattered grey tunic and trousers. With a start, she turned toward the creature, recognising it as an arborean as Erlmoor had though she had no way to know whether it was the one that the dragonborn had encountered.

“More enemies!” she called back to the others. “Use fire against the arboreans. They fear and loath it.”
“I have no fire,” Enlishia said as she rounded the corner and nocked an arrow to her bow. “Only this.”

The ranger raised her bow to aim at the creature and as she did, Lavren rounded the corner and raised his wand. The forest creature stepped back as it realised that it was outnumbered and Lavren moved to stand beside Telkya. As he did, he saw beyond the elf maid and the arborean, a hunched crone clad in tattered garb who had been moving away but now turned back to face the companions. She wore dusty robes and seemed to be muttering, hissing and moaning to herself.
“A hag,” Lavren hissed quietly. “A manifestation of all that is dark and terrible in nature.”

Telkya nodded as her husband identified the creature and raised her amulet. The hag hissed and started back toward the companions. The hag rushed past the arborean to the right and crossed the open space into which Lavren and Telkya had ventured. Then it turned and let out a terrible howl that struck Lavren like a hammer blow. He was thrown back, past Telkya and toward the arborean that still stood with its blade held ready. The creature stabbed its blade into the elf’s thigh and he reeled away from his enemy, dazed and wounded.

Erlmoor stepped forward and struck at the boar, cleaving his sword into the beast’s side and driving it back and away from him. Behind the dragonborn, Litiraan sensed the battle was all but won and as he had no way of loosing a spell at the creature that would not hit his friends, he turned away and headed back to the entrance to the chamber. Hearing the sounds of battle, he turned north and rushed after Enlishia, Lavren and Telkya.

The boar, meanwhile, pawed the ground and rushed at Erlmoor but again the paladin leapt back and to the left and the beast’s terrible tusks gored at nothing but air. Lavren plunged her blade into the creature’s left flank as it swung its head back and forth and with another squeal, it retreated. The beast regarded its enemies with a fierce desperation in its eyes and pawed the ground as it prepared itself for one final charge. Then, suddenly, Dulvarna sensed movement to her right and looked back over her shoulder. There, another brown-skinned arborean rounded the corner, this one dressed in long, grey robes as tattered as its companions clothes had been. In its right hand, the creature wielded a scythe and it came forward with a stern determination.

“More enemies behind us,” Dulvarna called to Erlmoor.
“Then we had best kill this boar quickly,” the dragonborn answered.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 9 - Beasts and Mazes (Part 5)

Telkya loosed a bolt of golden divine energy from her amulet toward the hag but the creature stepped to its left and the bolt flew past to strike the wall beyond. Enlishia moved forward and raised her bow, loosing two arrows quickly. One drove into the hag’s shoulder, drawing a screech from the crone but the other streaked past, clattering into the wall behind the creature. Lavren, finally recovered from the hag’s assault, rushed at the arborean that had wounded him. He feinted to the left and then drove his blade into the creature’s right hip. It staggered back and slashed out with his own blade to try and keep the fierce elf at bay. Lavren paid its sword no mind and came forward again in a rush.

Erlmoor rushed at the boar again but as he started forward, he felt a sharp pain sear across the bottom of his back. He turned and looked over his right shoulder to see that a second scythe-wielding arborean had rushed at him and wounded him with its scythe. He growled at the brown-skinned creature and then leapt at the boar, driving his blade into the creature’s skull. The beast lashed out with its tusks one last time as Erlmoor leapt away from it and then it slumped to the earth floor and died. With a roar, Erlmoor turned on the spot to face his new enemies and raised his blade again.

The hag crossed the open space to rejoin the arborean and as it did, it turned and howled at the companions again. Lavren and Enlishia were hurled against the west wall and reeled away along it while Telkya was hurled back into the passage between the wall of the thicket to the south. The arborean rushed after Telkya, stabbing its blade into her shoulder and driving her back into the south wall of the passage. She cried out and as she did, a silver missile streaked past the arborean and struck the west wall. Looking to her right, Telkya saw that her brother had come to aid her and knew that she would not fall to her bark-skinned foe.

Dulvarna turned to face these new foes and as she did, a tunic-clad arborean wielding a short sword, appeared as if from nowhere a few feet away. It rushed at her and stabbed out with its blade but she swept her own sword across and knocked its weapon aside. She twisted Aecris back up and across and slashed the blade across the creature’s chest, tearing its tunic and the bark-like skin beneath. Then another of the scythe-wielders rushed into the battle, slashing out with its long weapon and tearing a painful wound in Dulvarna’s left shoulder. She cried out, falling back a step as she did but her enemies kept coming toward her and she realised that these foes would be harder to slay than the boar had been.

Telkya lashed out desperately with her sword and thought for a moment that her blade would drive into the arborean’s side but at the last, the creature parried with its own blade. Beyond the arborean, Lavren and Enlishia had recovered enough to loose arrows and black bolts of energy at the hag and from the screeches she heard, Telkya judged that the creature was being hurt further by their attacks. Then the hag howled again and both were thrown back along the wall again beyond Telkya’s sight. Seeing its foe’s distraction, the arborean came at the elf maid then and though she parried as best she could, again its blade snuck through, piercing her hip this time. She fell back into the wall and Litiraan hurled another silver bolt from his wand but still the creature kept coming. Telkya began to doubt her victory then, wondering if this strange creature would in fact defeat her.

Erlmoor roared at the new foes before him, spraying acid from his mouth that seared the robes and skin of the two scythe-wielders. Erlmoor surged forward, lashing out left and right with his blade but each time, the scythe-wielders before him met his blade with their own blades ot the shafts of their long weapons. To the right of the dragonborn, the sword-wielder rushed at Dulvarna and drove its blade into her hip, forcing her back a step. She came back forward almost at once, her blade dancing back and forth before her until she leapt at her foe and thrust Aecris into the arborean’s thigh. It staggered and reeled back a step, dragging its wounded leg with it. The scythe-wielders came forward in a fury next, both slashing their weapons at Erlmoor. The paladin parried desperately, somehow managing to keep both at bay for a few moments more.

“Do we hold here?” he asked Dulvarna as the arboreans drew back for a moment.
“For now we do,” Dulvarna answered. “And we hope that the others come to aid us.”

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 9 - Beasts and Mazes (Part 6)

Telkya was also hoping for aid as she raised her sword again and uttered a prayer to Corellon. She stabbed out with her blade and drove it into the side of the arborean before her. As the sword struck home, a surge of healing energy passed along it and into Telkya, restoring some of her strength and spirit. To the north, Enlishia and Lavren resumed their assault on the hag, the ranger loosing two arrows, one of which drove into the creature’s side. Lavren loosed more black energy but the blast flew wide of the hag as his first had. Then the hag howled again and the elf and the ranger were hurled painfully into the north wall of the chamber.

The arborean before Telkya seemed to smile as it heard the hag howl again and then rushed at the elf maid with its blade before it. It stabbed out with its sword but Telkya dodged to the left and slapped the blade away with her own weapon. To her right, Telkya heard Litiraan chant another spell and this time, a curtain of flame seared from his wand. The fire engulfed the arborean, burning its clothes and the skin beneath but also tore into the thicket to the elf’s right. From beyond the thick thorns and vines, the hag screeched as the flames reached her too and for the first time since the battle had begun, Telkya smiled.

Erlmoor surged at the two scythe-wielders, feinting at the one to his left and then sweeping his blade across into the side of the other arborean. The creature fell back but as it did, the sword-wielder rushed at Dulvarna and drove its blade into her thigh. She staggered back a step but then lashed her blade low into the creature’s left leg, sending it reeling back from her. The scythe-wielders rushed at Erlmoor a moment later, slashing their weapons high and then low to cut wounds in the dragonborn’s right thigh and left hip. He roared and staggered back from his enemies while they kept coming forward and parried desperately, hoping as Dulvarna had hoped that aid would soon come.

Telkya loosed a bolt of divine power from her amulet that narrowly missed the fire-scarred arborean and the creature took another step back as though it pondered retreat. Beyond the creature, Telkya saw Enlishia rush into the open space again and turn her bow on the hag. The ranger loosed two arrows quickly and the hag screeched as they drove into her chest and belly. Lavren came forward to join his friend, turning his wand on the hag and this time, the bolt of black, crackling energy he loosed, drove into the hag’s chest. The crone gave one final screech of pain and anger and then fell to the earth floor. The arborean seemed to panic then but gestured with its left hand as though reaching down and raising something from the ground. Moments later, thorn-covered vines burst forth from the ground and seized Lavren, Litiraan and Telkya, their spikes piercing their flesh and their powerful fronds holding the three companions in place. The bark-skinned creature turned and fled around the corner of the hedge maze, rushing east and then vanishing from sight as it blended into the green background of the thickets.

Erlmoor chanted a prayer to Lathander and as his blade glowed brightly, he struck out at the scythe-wielder before him, slashing his blade into the creature’s shoulder. A surge of healing energy flowed up the sword and into the dragonborn, restoring some of his strength but then the arboreans came forward again the paladin and the warrior woman were pushed back onto the defensive. A scythe tore into Erlmoor’s shoulder and drove him back but beside him, Dulvarna held firm, holding her enemy at bay. Still, the assault was furious and both Dulvarna and Erlmoor began to wonder whether the time to retreat was at hand.

Telkya and Litiraan struggled against the vines that held them and could not break free but Enlishia, unhindered, started after the fleeing arborean. She reached another open space to the east with a square pool at its centre and heard the sounds of battle to the south. She started to turn the corner but as she did, the burned and wounded arborean appeared beside the thicket next to her and stabbed out at her with its blade. The sword plunged into the ranger’s right thigh and she twisted away while reaching for an arrow to nock to her bowstring. To her left, she saw Dulvarna and Erlmoor fighting fiercely against three arboreans and knew that she had to slay this one so that she could go to their aid.

Erlmoor looked back as he heard movement behind him and saw Enlishia face to face with another arborean. Realising that his friends were not far away, he summoned all the strength he had left and raised his sword above his head to strike a mighty blow. The blade came down and clove into the shoulder of the arborean before him. The creature collapsed to the floor and dropped its scythe though it was not slain and reached out quickly to recover the weapon.

The sword-wielder came at Dulvarna in a rush again but she was ready and parried each of its sword thrusts before countering with a sweep across the arborean’s chest. Dulvarna swept Aecris on and as the scythe-wielder that Erlmoor had felled tried to rise, her blade clove into its left arm and sent it lurching to the right. The creature hissed and lashed out wildly at Dulvarna, the scythe’s point driving painfully into her left thigh. She staggered and fell back, wondering if retreat was truly the only choice now, but then she heard Enlishia’s bow sing behind her and knew that she and Erlmoor had to hold.
Enlishia leapt back from the arborean she faced and loosed an arrow into the creature’s chest. It lurched back and as it did, the ranger nocked another shaft to her bowstring and fired. This arrow drove into the creature’s throat and burst out the back of its neck. The arborean seemed to gasp and hiss and then it collapsed to the earth floor of the chamber.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 9 - Beasts and Mazes (Part 7)

The arboreans came forward again and a scythe drove into Erlmoor’s side, forcing him back and away from his enemies. The dragonborn roared and spun around, his blade singing out but slashing through nothing but air. The sword-wielder rushed at Dulvarna but she parried its sword thrusts with typical skill and then countered. As she came forward, a silver bolt flew behind the creature and both she and the arborean looked to the west from which the bolt had come. There stood Litiraan, his wand in hand, and another spell on his lips. Dulvarna smiled and slashed her blade across the bark-skinned creature’s belly forcing it back as she drove her blade on into the side of the scythe-wielder next to it. The creature still managed to lash out with its scythe and gouge another wound down Erlmoor’s arm from shoulder to elbow. As the dragonborn reared back, Telkya arrived in the southern corridor behind Litiraan and loosed a golden bolt of energy that seared past the sword-wielder’s back. The arboreans wavered for a moment but then the other scythe-wielder lashed out with its weapon, driving the point into the side of Erlmoor’s chest. With a gasp, the dragonborn fell before his enemies.

Lavren cursed the arborean sword-wielder from the southern passage and loosed a bolt of black energy that seared into the creature’s side. The creature was thrown to the floor where it lay unmoving, its sword fallen from its grasp. Litiraan loosed lightning from his wand that seared into both of the remaining arboreans. One of the scythe-wielders collapsed next to its fallen companion and the last began to waver as it realised that it faced six enemies alone. Dulvarna rushed at it then, moving to stand over Erlmoor’s fallen form to protect him from further harm. Her blade sang out and clove into the arborean’s left arm sending it reeling away.

Telkya rushed forward to aid Dulvarna, slashing her blade at the arborean while uttering a healing prayer. She held her amulet towards Erlmoor and a tendril of golden light reached out to touch the dragonborn. His eyes opened at once and began to drag himself back into the northern passage so that he could rise to his feet. As he did, the arborean suddenly lurched forward as an arrow drove into its back. Another drove into the thicket next to the creature and as the companions looked, they saw Enlishia coming forward down the passage behind the arborean. The creature flew into a rage then, lashing out with its scythe and driving the point into Dulvarna’s hip. She fell back a step and the arborean came forward but then a black bolt from Lavren’s wand struck it in the side and kept it at bay. Erlmoor rose beside Dulvarna with a roar and the creature knew then that it was beaten.

The dragonborn rushed at the creature and slashed at with his blade, the steel tearing into the creature’s arm. Litiraan appeared behind the creature in a shower of light and stabbed at it with his blade while Dulvarna thrust her blade into its belly. The arborean staggered and as it did, Telkya leapt forward and drove her sword through its throat. With a hiss, it collapsed amongst its companions and the battle was over.

Next......The Well of Loss

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 10 - The Well of Loss (Part 1)

Once they had tended to their wounds, the companions found a passage leading south out of the maze chamber close to where the final battle with the arboreans had taken place. The corridor led a short way south and then ended at double doors. Dulvarna and Erlmoor raised their swords and held them against their shoulders and then each reached out for the iron ring handles of the doors. They pulled open the portals at the same time and revealed a wide, square chamber. The floor was thick, loamy soil, and a wide pit with sharply sloped sides had been dug to dominate the centre of the room. On the sides and a the bottom of the pit were what looked like several masses of vines, rocks and soil, all pressed into clumps perhaps ten feet wide. Across the pit stood a creature with goat-like horns, holding a set of reed pipes and with a longbow slung over its shoulder.

Enlishia rushed into the chamber first and raised her bow as she looked down into the pit. There, the mounds of vegetation were starting to move, extending tendrils of vines and roots as though questing for prey. She looked over at the goat-horned creature and recognised it as a satyr, a capricious and sometimes violent woodland creature. Enlishia nocked an arrow to her bow, intending to fire into the pit but as she did, the satyr reached for his own bow marking him as an enemy. She raised her bow and loosed an arrow that flew past the satyr to clatter into the stone wall behind it. She nocked and fired another arrow quickly but this too flew wide of the mark. The satyr drew an arrow from the quiver at its belt, nocked it to its bow and fired. Enlishia dodged to the right and the arrow struck the stone wall behind her. She reached for another arrow and raised her bow to fire again at the satyr.

Telkya rushed into the chamber behind Enlishia and circled around the opposite side of the pit. She raised her amulet and loosed a bolt of golden light into the satyr’s side that drove it back from the edge of the pit. With a roar, Erlmoor charged into the chamber and circled around to the left, passing Enlishia and rushing to meet the satyr with his blade. At the same time, Litiraan circled around the other side of the pit until he stood beside Telkya. He raised his wand and uttered a spell that hurled a silver bolt toward the satyr. It struck the creature in the shoulder and drove it back another step from the pit edge. A moment later, a crackling bolt of black energy from Lavren’s wand struck the satyr and the creature reeled toward the south wall of the chamber. Lavren smiled for a moment but then two tendrils of plant matter lashed out from the pit and seized Telkya by an arm and a leg. Sharp thorns drove into the elf maid’s skin and she cried out as suddenly, the tendrils jerked her forward and she plunged down the slope into the pit.

Dulvarna cried out and rushed into the chamber, hurling herself headlong down the north slope of the pit. As she reached the plant creature, she lashed out with her blade, hacking at the vines and fronds that made up the body of this strange creature. Across the pit, a door, unnoticed by all, opened next to Enlishia and from it emerged one of the robed arborean scythe-wielders. It lashed its scythe out of the doorway and drove the point into Enlishia’s right leg, forcing the ranger back against the east wall of the chamber. As the ranger staggered, two fronds lashed out of the pit from another of the plant creatures. One struck the wall next to her but the other lashed into her side, tearing at her flesh and sending her reeling. Desperately, Enlishia tried to retreat but as she looked to the left, she saw more movement in the pit and behind the first arborean, another scythe-wielder came forth. The creature swung out its scythe and Enlishia leapt back, just beyond the reach of its terrible weapon.

Enlishia raised her bow and loosed an arrow into the nearest arborean before retreating away from her enemies along the edge of the pit. She looked back toward the satyr and saw that the fey creature had turned its bow toward Litiraan and loosed an arrow at the wizard. The shaft drove into the elf’s left arm and threw him back into the wall. In the pit, meanwhile, Telkya stabbed and slashed her way free of the plant creature’s body and began to retreat up the slope. She held her blade before her and knew that the creature would attack her again before she could get free. She looked around for aid and saw Erlmoor moving along the far edge of the pit. The dragonborn paused as though sensing her gaze and then charged at the satyr with a roar.

The paladin reached the satyr before the creature had chance to react and slashed his blade across and up into the creature’s belly. It gasped and staggered back, its legs all but giving way beneath it and before it could recover, a silver bolt and a black bolt of energy seared into it, throwing it back against the south wall of the chamber. It looked pleadingly at Erlmoor for a moment and the dragonborn shook its head.
“You have chosen poor allies,” he growled and the satyr scrambled away from him.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 10 - The Well of Loss (Part 2)

Telkya scrambled back up the slope desperately but as she did, two tendrils lashed out to seize her, one around her leg and the other around her throat. Sharp thorns drove into her flesh and blood poured from her wounds. She gasped and gagged as blood filled her throat then merciful blackness took her. The creature dragged the elf maid’s lifeless body into its own and enveloped her with thorns and fronds for a second time. Dulvarna cried out and lashed out at the creature but though her blade tore at the fronds, leaves and thorns, it seemed to do no harm. Again the warrior woman cried out and as she did, both Lavren and Litiraan let out strangled cries of their own. Telkya was surely lost to them and her brother and husband were consumed with grief.

The arboreans came forth from the side chamber they had occupied, one rushing along the edge of the pit toward Enlishia. It lashed out with its scythe and she leapt back again but still the vicious weapon caught her left arm and spun her into the wall. Tendrils lashed out from the pit, one tearing across Enlishia’s abdomen and another tearing open her throat. Blood flowed down the ranger’s body and she staggered as a wave of nausea and pain assailed her. Finally, she fell to her knees and collapsed as blackness took her.

The second arborean rushed along the northern edge of the pit toward Lavren and Litiraan while the satyr leapt desperately away from Erlmoor. It raised its bow and fired an arrow into the dragonborn’s left arm but the paladin paid it no mind and came forward again. His blade sang out, clove through the satyr’s neck and beheaded the creature where it stood. Its body toppled over to its left and slid down into the pit. The dragonborn looked back along the pit edge and saw that Enlishia had fallen. He raised his blade and rushed off around the southern edge of the pit and then along the eastern edge to meet the arborean that stood over his friend.

Lavren and Litiraan turned toward the pit and loosed silver and black bolts of arcane power into the plant creature that had consumed Telkya. The creature lashed out with its tendrils and enveloped Dulvarna, thorns tearing at her arms and legs as it drew her into its body. The warrior woman fell amidst the vines, fronds and leaves but kept hold of her sword and lashed out with all her strength at the creature. The fronds around her fell back as her sword cut through them and she pulled herself free of them, clambering away, back up the sloping pit wall.
“We have to get away from here,” she called to the others. “Telkya is lost to us.”

Erlmoor heard his companion’s shout and glanced to his left, seeing the truth of his friend’s words. He had no time to contemplate retreat, though, as the arborean leapt over Enlishia and lashed out with its scythe. He brought his sword down and met the scythe with a strong parry. He roared his defiance but as he did, tendrils lashed into his legs tearing into his flesh and dragging him from his feet. He slid down the pit side and into the mass of another of the plant creatures. As he looked up, another of the arboreans was rushing at Lavren and Litiraan and the dragonborn knew that defeat was at hand.
“Get all you can away from this place,” he roared to Dulvarna on the pit’s northern slope but he had no idea whether she heard him as the plant creature consumed him.

Lavren met the arborean at the northwest corner of the pit and raised his blade but the creature swept its scythe in low and slashed a deep wound across the front of his right thigh. He looked down into the pit and saw that the plant creature had moved toward Dulvarna leaving Telkya’s broken form to roll free. Lavren looked desperately for signs of life but could see none and felt tears filling his eyes. He leapt away from his arborean enemy and lashed his wand to the left with a guttural cry. Purple bolts of energy lanced into the pit and seared into two of the plant creatures and for the first time, the one that had felled Telkya seemed to shrink back.

Beside Lavren, Litiraan tried to drag his brother-in-law away from the pit as he moved towards double doors in the western wall of the chamber. He reached the doors and hurled them open but as he did, he turned and uttered a spell that loosed a curtain of flame into the plant creatures in the pit. The creature that Dulvarna fought, lashed out wildly at the warrior woman and wrapped two thorn-covered tendrils around her body. Dulvarna twisted and ducked out of the plant creature’s grasp before lashing her blade into the creature, tearing it in half. The vines and fronds fell back lifeless and Dulvarna clambered out of the pit. She reached down and dragged Telkya onto the ledge beside her before pulling a potion from her belt.
“Help your sister,” she said to Litiraan as she held out the potion vial.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 10 - The Well of Loss (Part 3)

As the plant creature enveloped him, Erlmoor roared again, spraying acid onto the creature’s fronds. He lashed out with his blade as the creature recoiled and tried to free himself but still, several vines held him fast. Others snaked out to securely hold him and he felt thorns pierce his side painfully as he struggled. He felt the creature moved across the floor of the pit Tendrils lashed outward from close to where the dragonborn was held and he knew that the creature sought more of his companions to join him as its prey.

Litiraan watched as both of the remaining plant creatures slid across the pit floor toward the western edge. One lashed out two tendrils at Dulvarna but the warrior woman ducked under the thorn-covered appendages. The other creature lashed out fronds at Litiraan and while he ducked one, another struck the side of his leg and tore open the flesh there. He reeled away and looked down into the pit just as Erlmoor burst forth from the back of one of the creatures with a roar. A burst of golden, divine energy flashed out from the dragonborn as he freed himself and as Litiraan reached out for Dulvarna’s potion, he felt movement at his feet. Looking down, he saw poor bloodied and broken Telkya open her eyes and smile weakly.

Litiraan smiled back and found himself filled with a new determination that the companions would not be defeated here. He raised his wand and loosed an amber orb of flame into the pit that burst over the two remaining plant creatures. Further along the edge of the pit, Lavren saw Telkya’s eyes open and filled himself with a determination similar to Litiraan’s. He cursed the arborean as it came forward, attacking its mind but the plant creature ignored the assault and kept coming toward him.

Dulvarna rushed past Lavren and met the arborean blade to scythe as it rounded the corner of the pit. Her blade danced before her and then she struck out but the plant creature brought its scythe down and parried. Suddenly, Litiraan sensed movement to his right and turning, he raised his blade and parried the descending scythe of the other arborean as it tried to slash at him. The elf threw his blade to one side and pushed the arborean back a step but it came forward again quickly. Litiraan raised his blade but as he did, a tendril lashed out and seized him around the waist. Thorns drove into his body and blood flowed down to his waist but then another tendril lashed out and seized the elf around the neck. He gasped and then the tendrils jerked and he was dragged into the pit.

Dulvarna parried the scythe of the arborean as it swept high towards her throat but then the creature swept the blade around and down to drive the point into the warrior woman’s thigh. She cried out and staggered back before slashing her blade across to drive the scythe away. She looked back and felt her spirits rise as she saw Telkya rise to her feet at the pit edge. The elf maid closed her eyes and vanished in a shower of light motes, appearing a moment later on the southern edge of the pit. She rushed around to the eastern edge, hoping against hope that Enlishia yet lived. Dulvarna saw her run and admired her courage. They would not fall here, the warrior woman decided. They could not.

Erlmoor decided similarly in the pit and abandoned all efforts to strike at the plant creature. Instead, he turned and clambered up the sloping northern edge of the pit. A tendril lashed out at him but he threw himself low against the slope and the appendage swept over his head. He moved to the open northern doors and then turned back to the pit, uttering a prayer as he did. He held out his blade and a ribbon of divine fire burst forth, searing into the plant creature that had imprisoned him and burning away some of its fronds and vines. The dragonborn roared his defiance one more but then he realised that he could not see Litiraan. The elf had been taken by the plant creatures as his sister had been.

Lavren looked left and right and realised that he stood alone against the arborean that advanced along the western edge of the pit. Uttering a fey spell, he vanished and then reappeared against the northern wall beside the doors and not far from where Erlmoor now stood. He raised his wand and summoned fey wolves to arrack the closest of the plant creatures in the pit, the jaws of beasts tearing at the fronds and leaves of the creature. It shrank back toward the south and as it did, Lavren’s gaze followed it. It was then that he saw Litiraan, imprisoned within the other plant creature. The monsters in the pit had claimed another of the group’s number and the others had left Litiraan behind.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 10 - The Well of Loss (Part 4)

Dulvarna saw her companions gathered near the northern doors and realised that this was their only hope. She raised her blade above her head and brought it down heavily onto the shoulder of the arborean before dancing around to her left toward the doors. The creature’s knees buckled but did not give and the creature raised its scythe. Behind the creature, the other arborean rushed along the western edge of the pit and charged at Dulvarna. It lashed out with its scythe and drove the point into Dulvarna’s hip, spinning her into the wall behind her. Tentacles lashed at the ledge in front of Dulvarna but fell short of her and she moved left along the north wall toward her companions. She looked down at the potion vial that was now in her belt once more and knew that she would need it if she was to escape this terrible place.

Telkya rushed to Enlishia’s side, a healing prayer already on her lips. She uttered the prayer and divine light snaked out toward the fallen ranger. As it touched Enlishia, she opened her eyes and slowly began to move. Telkya rushed on and through the northern double doors out of the chamber.
“We have to go,” she called to the others, her voice breaking. “We cannot gain victory here.”

Erlmoor looked toward the northern corridor and then rushed forward to aid Dulvarna. He uttered a prayer and forced a part of his remaining strength into his blade as he drove it forward into the side of the arborean that the warrior woman yet faced. He thrust his blade deep into the creature’s body and as it reeled away, he drew back as well. Beside the dragonborn, Lavren raised his wand and loosed ribbons of eldritch fire at the nearest of the plant creatures in the pit. It vines and fronds withered and blackened in the fire until the creature was nothing more than a husk and lay unmoving on the northern slope of the pit. Lavren watched the creature die and then rushed into the northern passage after his beloved Telkya.

Dulvarna saw the plant creature die and reached for the potion at her belt. She unstoppered the vial with her teeth and drank the healing draught quickly before raising her blade and summoning the last of her strength. She lashed out her sword and cut a deep wound across the neck of the arborean before her, sending it reeling away. It fell over the edge of the pit and slid down to lie beside the burned remains of the plant creature. The warrior woman leapt to the left to stand beside Erlmoor on the northern edge of the pit as the last arborean rushed at them both, swinging its scythe out before it. Dulvarna met the weapon with her own blade and forced it away from her but as she did, a tendril from the last plant creature lashed across her left leg and almost swept her from her feet. She cursed and looked around to see where her friends were. She saw Enlishia rise to her feet and rush around the pit to the safety of the northern passage and she knew that she had done all she could to save her companions.

Beside her Erlmoor retreated from the arborean and broke away to reach the safety of the northern passage,. Telkya raised her voice in prayer and called a column of divine light down on the remaining plant creature in the pit but it was too little and too late, Dulvarna knew. Litiraan was lost to them now and could not be saved and so Dulvarna drew back from her enemy and then turned and fled to the safety of the northern passage. The battle was over and the companions had lost one of their number. They fled northwards as black grief consumed them.

Next.....Through Dark Waters

 

[Medriev]

DM Note - The Well of Loss

This encounter is very tough in my opinion and the PCs here were lucky to get out having lost only one of their number. Admittedly I had added an extra arborean to account for 6 PCs facing it but even without this it would have been hard to get through.

I played the decision to retreat as a pragmatic one that the PCs would take but looking back on it, I'm not sure it entirely fits the character of all of the group. Lavren certainly would take a pragmatic view but Dulvarna and Erlmoor would be less likely to. Anyway, I decided that the PCs would retreat to avoid losing more of their number and thus, a very likely TPK was avoided.

 

[Medriev]

Chapter 11 - Through Dark Waters (Part 1)

The companions eventually stopped and rested in the chamber with the tilting floor, each one throwing themselves down on the floor and letting grief consume them. At first, once Telkya realised that Litiraan had not followed them, she wanted to go back, but Lavren held her back until she collapsed, broken, into his arms. All slept fitfully for a few hours with two keeping watch in turns and when they rose, they were all decided that they would turn north from the chamber away from the terrible plant creatures. Dulvarna led them through the north door in silence and when they emerged onto the rope bridges over the water-filled room that the harpies had guarded, she turned east without speaking. The companions climbed the stairs into the ettin’s chamber with the pit of corpses at its centre and there they stopped, for before them stood a man with bushy dark, shoulder length hair and a wild-looking beard. He knelt beside the fallen ettin, apparently examining the corpse. He wore a fur-trimmed tunic of deerskin and trousers of the same hide. At his belt hung a short stick, tied with bones and bird feathers while in one hand, he held up a long scythe.

“An arborean?” Telkya asked from behind Dulvarna.
“I think not,” answered the warrior woman.
“Fear not,” said the man as he turned to regard the newcomers. His nose was flat, his features bestial and his eyes were a bright green.
“I am no enemy but a lost traveller much as you are,” the man continued. “My name is Thorn Valerian and I am one of the few druids who still guard the Hullack Forest.”

“Well met, Thorn,” Dulvarna answered. “I am Dulvarna of Eveningstar and my companions are called the Defenders of Winterhaven.”
“How came you here?” Enlishia asked.
“I tracked a bandit named Gharash Vren,” Thorn answered. “My circle had been petitioned by the Lord of Sunset Hill to find Vren and his band. She offers a purse of gold for the man’s head.”
“And this place entrapped you as it did us?” Telkya asked though she already knew the answer.
“It did,” answered Thorn. “And now I know of no way to escape and no way to find Vren. Your work?”

As he asked the last, he gestured down to the blackened corpse of the slain ettin and the bloated bodies of the insect-like creatures in the pit.
“Yes,” Dulvarna answered. “And now we have returned here to seek another way. Terrible plant creatures lurk to the south and have slain one of our number. You are welcome to travel with us for we too seek a way out of this place.”

“I am grateful to you,” said the man sternly. “And if we find Vren within this place and live to claim the bounty of Lord Kelana Dhoram then we will share it between us.”