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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Medriev" data-source="post: 4778177" data-attributes="member: 21864">Chapter 5 - Troubled Waters (Part 1)Only Telkya remembered having read of Draxius in an old tome that had survived the Fall of Myth Drannor.“He ruled when the City of Song still flourished and it fell six centuries and more ago,” said Telkya. “If he lived until perhaps a hundred years after its fall then it is no wonder that he was called the Neverdying. The tome I read never spoke of him as a tiefling, though.”“He kept that well hidden, aided by the High Wizards who served him,” answered Vyrellis.The companions were gathering up their belongings and readying their weapons as they started towards the western passage that led out of the pit chamber. Vyrellis had warned them of ‘terrible plant creatures’ to the south and so they had chosen the western path which was unknown to the spirit in the orb. The companions hoped that that meant it was relatively free of enemies.Dulvarna led them out of the chamber with her blade held before her while behind her came Erlmoor with his blade held high. Behind them walked Telkya and Litiraan, the elf maid carrying a torch and the elf lord with his wand lit up magically. At the back walked Lavren and Enlishia, wand and bow at the ready to aid their companions and in his right hand, Lavren carried another torch. Stairs led downwards just outside the pit chamber and Dulvarna led them carefully down until she reached the bottom and emerged onto a balcony overlooking a room filled with dark water. A rope bridge slanted sharply downward toward a wooden platform just above the level of the water. Two other bridges connected that platform to other balconies, each perhaps ten feet above the water. On these platforms, Dulvarna saw movement and as she watched, a humanoid female creature with bird-like feet and feathery wings stepped from the shadows of the platforms.“Harpies!” she called out to the others. “Said to be descended from an evil elf witch-queen who was cursed with half-bird form when defeated by a great hero. Ware their song for it can enchant and confuse.”Dulvarna started forward onto the rope bridge and began to cross but she had not gone far when a green-skinned creature rose from the water next to the bridge. It had webbed hands and feet, a wide, fish-like head and a mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth. A crest of spines rose up on its back as it emerged from the water and stabbed a viciously barbed trident into Dulvarna’s right leg. She turned and lashed out with her sword but the creature reared back and parried cross-wise with its trident.“Sahuagin,” Erlmoor hissed quietly. “Not unjustly are they called sea devils.”The dragonborn raised his sword and rushed to Dulvarna’s aid, lashing out with his blade as he reached her. The steel tore into the sahuagin’s arm and sent it reeling back with a splash into the water. Enlishia moved out onto the stone balcony and raised her bow, firing arrows quickly at the sahuagin. Two shafts drove into the creature’s side and red blood began to pool in the water around it.Another sahuagin rose from the water on the other side of the bridge and began to bark what sounded like commands in its rough, clicking language. In its right hand it held a trident but it raised its left and unleashed a jet of fierce water that slammed into Dulvarna’s side and sent her reeling along the bridge into Erlmoor. The sahuagin newcomer dived down beneath the water as soon as the water bolt struck home leaving the other creature alone above the surface. Seeing this, Litiraan raised his wand and loosed a silver bolt at the sea devil that struck the water next to it. The sahuagin ducked down under the surface and as it did, a black bolt from Lavren’s wand and a golden bolt from Telkya’s amulet struck the water where it had been. Then the harpies swooped off their ledges and began to sing.The half-bird creatures landed on the bridge and as they sang, the companions felt the powerful and haunting melodies of their voices filling their minds and drawing them forward. Only Dulvarna managed to resist the terrible song while the others were drawn toward the harpies, climbing down into the water from the bridge or the stone balcony where they were at the mercy of the sahuagin. Two more of the sea devils surfaced to the south of the bridge, across from the one that was now wounded, one rising next to Erlmoor and the other rushing at the dragonborn. He parried the trident of the first as he tried to shake off the influence of the harpy song but the other stabbed its trident into his hip and drove him back a step. He roared his pain and defiance and raised his blade.</blockquote>

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