Session #46
“Mozek’s mother is a succubus,” Martin said in a low tone.
“A what?” Kazrack asked.
“A female demon sent to tempt men to do evil,” Jeremy answered for the watch-mage, and everyone’s head slowly turned to look at him. “What? You think I never listen to legends and warnings?”
He threw his hands into the air and marched away from where Martin sat surrounded now not only by books, but by Ratchis, Kazrack, Beorth, Belear and Captain Adalar.
Martin opened the large book with the color plates and showed one to his companions. It depicted a four-breasted, bat winged woman with a beautiful face, resting upon a divan of iron needles. She had a huge engorged belly and was being tended to by human women. A greenish scaled and horned baby seemed to be painfully crawling and pulling its way out of the demon-woman’s womb. She twirled a gold crown around one finger as she tilted her head back, mouth open. It was unclear if she was laughing or screaming.
Martin explained the accompanying text said that the off-spring of this ‘greater succubus’ and mortals can change shape and hide their demonic nature and be planted into ruling families and tribes to gain power in the mortal realm and wreak chaos.
Martin then looked sheepishly at Ratchis, “Uh, what tribe of orcs do you…uh, come from?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because orcs are mentioned in one of these books by the man who built this place,” the watch-mage explained.
“Darksh,” Ratchis replied, his heavy lids narrowing.
“Oh.” Martin looked away.
“What is it?”
“A, uh… breeding program is mentioned, uh… with that tribe,” Martin cleared his throat. “It mentions intentionally breeding humans and orcs, and us sacrificing a certain number of the off-spring to the lost god.”
Ratchis did not respond, but a shadow seemed to come over his face.
“Lost god?” Kazrack asked.
“Rahkefet,” Martin whispered. “He is said to be a ram-headed god, son of Set.”
The dwarf looked at Beorth when the word ‘ram’ was mentioned, but he turned back to Martin. “Do any of the books say this foul wizard’s name who built this place?”
“No,” Martin replied. “But I have not have had time to read the books in detail. I have only skimmed over them and jotted down some notes of my own, and remember, I cannot decipher the gnomish notes in the margins.”
“Margins?” asked Ratchis.
“The empty space around the text in books,” Jeremy said from about fifteen feet away where he sat next to Derek sharpening his long sword. “Or am I not allowed to know that either?”
Derek elbowed the blonde warrior.
“Could the wizard be a gnome? Or could a gnome be in the sarcophagus?” Ratchis asked.
“I see no reason to believe that a gnome could not be one of the undead,” Martin replied. “But I have a feeling that the person who built this place was human.”
“Do you think it could be a vampire?” Ratchis continued with his questions. “That is, a very powerful foe that we might not be able to defeat?”
“Yes,” Martin paused. “Yes, that is possible, but I am at a loss as to why it’d be locked in its stone coffin.”
“Perhaps the gnomes found this place and forced the vampire in there since they could not defeat or destroy it,’ offered Beorth.
“If only you had your memory back,” Martin cursed. “I am certain you had information we needed, and at the very least I am sure you would know something about vampires. There is something in one of these books about them and other forms of undead, but I would have to wait to prepare more spells to read it.”
The round chamber at the bottom of the dark shaft was silent for a moment, and then Martin turned to Belear. “Do you think you might be able to heal Beorth’s amnesia?”
“Even if I could, it would not be my place to undo the punishments of his gods,” the elder dwarf replied.
“But father, that punishment came from a place other than his god,” Kazrack said.
“That does not mean he did not deserve the punishment,” Belear replied solemnly.
Beorth nodded.
Kazrack sighed, “Our tasks grow. Now in addition to dealing with Mozek, we must also discover what other tribes and societies have been infiltrated by these fiends.”
“One at a time,” Jeremy said, walking over again. “My question is, what do we do right now?”
The Fearless Manticore Killers feel to discussing their options, asking Belear and Adalar to join them in the decision-making, Derek, however, hardly spoke a word.
“Belear, could you dispel the magics on those remaining books?’ Kazrack asked the elder dwarf.
“I could, but not until tomorrow, for I have not prepared that spell this day,” Belear replied.
“Do we want to take the time to wait?” Kazrack asked, looking to Ratchis and Beorth.
“There may be something in the books that will tell us more about Mozek,” Ratchis said, in his gruff voice. ‘A way to defeat him.”
“Hmmmm,” Martin scratched the downy brown tuft growing on his weak chin. “I do not think he will confront us directly. When he defeated us last time it was through trickery and we are stronger and wiser than then. We he moves again it will be with overwhelming force.”
Kazrack slapped the ground with his open palm. “And the only thing that will overcome his trickery is knowledge. Knowledge like that in these books!”
Jeremy rolled his eyes, and Martin’s brow furrowed, not quite following Kazrack’s logic.
“I do not think that Mozek would leave the key to his destruction on a shelf in a workroom used for the creation on zombies,” Beorth said flatly. “I try to explore the lower levels some more and find the sources of these zombies dressed as workers. There is great evil here, and I must endeavor to destroy it, and since it seems Mozek and his kin are involved somehow it is in our primary interest to investigate it at the very least.”
There was silence, but Belear was nodding, and Ratchis stood. Martin looked back and forth from Beorth to Kazrack. Jeremy hung his head and walked away to sharpen his blades, but Derek smiled impressed by Beorth’s resolve.
Finally, Kazrack spoke. “Fine. Then I volunteer to go scout out the situation and explore the lower tunnels on the other side.” (1)
“I can accompany you again, if you like,” Martin offered. He smiled at the memory of saving Kazrack’s life last time, beside himself.
“As safe as that would make me feel I think it would be unnecessary,” Kazrack replied. The Watch-Mage’s brow furrowed again, trying to sense how sincere the dwarf was.
And so it was decided without too many more words being spoken that Kazrack would be sent down the opposite tunnels just to look. Blodnath remained behind this time, but Kirla and Helrahd came along, and Jolnar, Tolnar and Golnar groused until Captain Adalar glared at them. Derek, Jeremy, Beorth, Martin Ratchis and Belear would come along to guard the lower room while Kazrack was away, to assure it was free of the undead when he returned.
More zombies had crawled into the lower chamber while the party rested. Kazrack was lowered by rope and held them while Beorth made his way down accompanied by one of Martin’s mage hands holding a lit torch. The paladin of Anubis turned the offending undead, his pearly white shawl gleaming in the smoky torch light. Two more zombies that seemed unaffected, came shambling towards the dwarf, but he called on his gods as well and they fled in the face of the divine power, too.
“Kazrack, go quickly,” Beorth ordered Kazrack, pointing to the set of tunnels the party had not yet explored. “I will keep this chamber clear of the undead for you return.”
“I will try to not be long,” the dwarf replied with a serious nod and he scrambled up into one of the tunnel, not needing to even duck his head to navigate it.
“Do you need help Beorth?” Derek called down.
“It would be good if we had another guard, just in case,” the paladin replied, and soon the young hunter had deftly made his way down.
He had not been down but a moment when more zombies came streaming into the room.
“I hope Kazrack is okay,” Beorth said, raising his sword to meet the walking dead in battle. He and Derek stood back to back, hacking the decaying limbs of the creatures’ blackened flesh.
Meanwhile, Kazrack’s reconnaissance was not without event. He had barely made it halfway down the tunnel, when he spotted a zombie awkwardly crawling in his direction. He drew his flail from his belt and waited, swatting it with a skull-crushing blow as it approached. Kazrack fought a retreating fight, always stepping back to allow the zombie to get back it knees and awkwardly come to him again so he could send it down again. The thing did not seem to want to stop, and it took several blows and most of its head being a mushy pulp for the animating force to be set free. Letting out a long low breath, Kazrack continued onward down the tunnel.
While Kazrack’s dwarven vision allowed him to see in the dark at short distances, he did not need the blood of the stonefolk to see what was going on when he finally reach the ends of the tunnels on the opposite side of the ziggurat in the great dug out chamber. He ducked low as to not be seen, but still he gasped and covered his mouth with a calloused hand.
There were many braziers lit throughout the great chamber, and like the party had observed from the other side of the ziggurat the chamber floor was maze of partially collapsed stone walls, trampled tents, crumbled stone columns, protruding metal poles and square stone foundations worn by dripping water and time. The ceiling, way above, was maw of stalactites. However. What was most bizarre about this side of the chamber was the increased zombie activity. Here the lines of undead seeming to mimic the living were much more numerous. There was no point in counting. There were scores and scores, perhaps hundreds, perhaps nearing a thousand. The seemed to be clawing at the dirt with their fingers, digging up rotting timbers of some structures that once stood down here and carrying armloads of it to the braziers and keeping them lit. Others seemed to be carrying corpses from the dark shadows of the far end of the chamber, where Kazrack could not see, and while some corpses (those in the greatest disrepair) were used to feed the fire, others were being carried to biers that surround a great pedestal like that they had seen on the other side. However, this pedestal still had its statue intact.
It was immense. The statue was so incredibly detailed it seemed like it might take flight, for the folds of its hooked bat-like wings reached up nearly twenty-five feet. It was a demonic woman with four arms and four breasts, like that seen in the chamber of the sarcophagus above. (2) She held a whip in one hand and a flaming sword in another. Her fingers, ended in long cruel claws, but her figure was voluptuous and enticing, her right hip shifted out as if to accentuate the curves of her demonically twisted body.
As Kazrack observed, the zombies stripped the outer clothing of the corpses of the corpses laid out on the biers, leaving them in the dirty white workers’ tunics and sandals that the party had seen most of the zombies wearing (those that were not naked). The stripped clothing was thrown on the braziers as well. The corpses laid there for a moment, but then began to stir, standing as a zombie to join the lines of the other undead workers.
“Natan-Ahb, preserve us against the plague of darkness and evil,” Kazrack prayed under his breath. He could take little solace in the fact that he noticed that it seemed like less than one-third of the working zombies seemed actually carrying serviceable corpses. Most brought bodies parts to be burned, and others went through the clockwork motions with empty arms, parroting the foul work without the resources to undertake it.
Looking around one last time from his perch atop the ziggurat, Kazrack turned and hurried back.
Back in the small chamber, Derek and Beorth stood among the chopped pieces of zombies, waiting in the eerie quiet for Kazrack’s return.
Ratchis was announcing that he was going to climb down and go after him when the dwarf finally emerged from the tunner, out of breath and admonishing the those on guard to hurry up the rope.
Soon, they were back in the tiled upper chamber, and Kazrack did his best to describe what he had seen.
The Fearless Manticore Killers once again retreated to the lowest level of the entrance shaft where the rest of their dwarven allies waited, to discuss their options.
“I bet that statue is cause of all of this,” said Kazrack.
“From what you describe that seems like a reasonable conclusion,” said Ratchis.
“Do we think that destroying the source will destroy all the zombies in this place?” Beorth asked.
Kazrack was taken aback by the question coming from the undead hunter, it was sometimes hard to remember that the paladin suffered from memory loss when his demeanor was so unchanged, but questions like that brought it back.
“It is unlikely,” said Martin. “But it will keep more from being made.”
“I think we should do what we can to destroy the statue,” said Ratchis.
“It is large and of stone of good construction,” Kazrack said. “Destroying it utterly may be impossible without the right tools.”
“We may not need to destroy it utterly,” replied Ratchis.
“Or we can use its own weight against it,” suggested Captain Adalar, offering his opinion on the subject for the first time. “I am something of an engineer. Perhaps we can rig something where we can topple it and it would smash itself.”
Belear and Kazrack nodded. The plan made sense to their dwarven sensibilities.
“I think we should take more time to allow me to peruse the books more, and see if Belear can dispel the dweomers on the two remaining books,” Martin said. “Perhaps they explain about he statues.”
“Statues?” Jeremy cocked his head. “Kazrack only described one.”
“Yes, but we saw the pedestal for another that was broken,” Martin explained. “It was obviously destroyed either by accident or by intention by someone. Perhaps the books can shed light on this matter.”
Belear and Kazrack nodded again.
“My goddess grants me access to a miracle that may allow us to walk among the zombie horde unseen,” Ratchis explained. “We can send a small group to test the waters, so to speak, and see about attacking a rope to the top of the statue and so it can be pulled down, if it is top heavy.”
“I will be part of the group, so that I might best instruct you on how and where to apply the rope, and perhaps we can find a way to lever it,” Captain Adalar volunteered.
“No offense, Captain,” Kirla interrupted, sounding as if she were the one who was offended. “But I am as good, if not better an engineer as you are. I think I should be the one to go.”
Captain Adalar opened his mouth to reply, but Kazrack spoke first. “This may be true, but if things go wrong, the captain can call upon the power of the gods, and if things go wrong it is only the power of our gods that will protect us.”
“A good engineer would make it less likely for things to go wrong,” Kirla’s eyes narrowed.
But now it was Beorth’s turn to interrupt.
“So what you propose is for one of more of us to climb up on statue and be surrounded by hundreds of undead creatures?” The paladin asked with disbelief in his voice.
“Yes,” said Ratchis.
“Yes, but we will be invisible to them,” Kazrack said.
“I think we should open the locked sarcophagus and face whatever is in there,” Beorth said. “It is not only a more direct option, but we will all be able to take part in ensuring whatever it is is destroyed.”
“I fear we may not be up to handling what it in that sarcophagus,” Martin said, a quaver in his voice. “It is likely a great and powerful evil.
“All the more reason to not waste our efforts on a statue and get killed in the process letting a greater evil continue to exist,” Beorth replied.
“Huh? That makes no sense,” Jeremy interjected.
“I think he is suggesting that we face the lesser evil we might not live to face the greater evil,” Martin explained.
“Hey, if we can’t handle the lesser evil, what makes you think we can handle the greater one?” Jeremy threw his hands in the air and let out a sigh, looking to Derek for support, who shrugged his shoulders.
“Ratchis,” Martin looked to the half-orc. “Have you certain faith that your goddess will protect you in this way you described?”
“I have certain faith that she will grant me what she wills,” he replied.
“And I have certain faith that my god will grant you a peaceful rest,” Beorth said.
Ratchis scowled at the paladin.
There was a long silence.
“It may prove too difficult to arrange for ropes to be set up to pull the statue down,” Kazrack said. “We should try to simply smash it first.”
“Yes,” said Ratchis, not looking at Beorth. “I will climb atop it, and try smashing it with my hammer.”
“Regardless,” Belear finally spoke. “Let us rest again, and regain the powers our gods grant us. I will try to dispel the spell one of the books tomorrow to see if it will help us, before we undertake this endeavor.”
On this, everyone agreed.
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Notes
(1) The lower room, beneath the partially collapsed chamber with large blues tiles and four support columns, has eight horizontal shafts (four on each side) going out to the larger lower cavern, opening at the top of a large ziggurat. (See Last Installment).
(2) See Session #44
