Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 378
The Attention of Higher Powers
Kibi looks down with pride mingled with embarrassment – though mostly the former – at Gehentas kneeling at his feet. “You’re right, I am a dwarb… dwarf, actually. You’re one of the first people we’ve met down here who believes in the world above!”
Gehentas nods. “’Course I do.” He stands and gestures at the huge piles of remains. “You just annihilated the Scuttle, and even the Spotties. Can you do that to the rest?”
“Maybe,” answers Kibi. “Where are they?”
“All over the place. And there are a lot of them!”
“I could kill a lot at once,” says Kibi, stroking his beard, “but it would require collapsing part of the cavern where they are. Is that okay?”
“Part of the cavern? We don’ t go in that direction, so sure, as long as you can guarantee the ceiling doesn’t collapse on the fort.”
“I’ll have to take a look.”
“We can help, with our magic,” says Gehentas, “A little bit. Reshaping stone, helping build buildings. That sort of thing.”
Kibi finds the notion delightful. “Where I come from, very few Dwarves can cast magic.”
“We all do Earth Magic here,” says Gehentas. “You know, the magic that just comes up out of the ground.”
“We’ll talk more about that after we’ve dealt with the Scuttle.”
Gehentas leads them through the hallways of the fort, and up to the top of the wall. “Weapons out, and look sharp,” he warns the Company. “They primarily use their catapults to fire themselves over the wall, but they also hurl rocks.”
They are challenged in places by other Drevin, but all of them are awed by Gehentas’s brief pronouncements about Kibi. “He’s a dwarb! A dwarb has come to resuce us!”
“What about his friends?” asks one of the guards.
“We’re companions of Kibi,” says Ernie. “We’re here to take care of your Scuttle problem.”
“It’s true!” Gehentas exclaims. “I’ve seen it! They just blasted the Scuttle into ashes!”
“Great! Send ‘em up!”
Gehentas keeps talking as they ascend a twisting staircase. “We haven’t worried about the Scuttle in decades. We’ve had an uneven truce, and had agreed that the cavern out there would stay empty. We weren’t prepared for this; nine days ago they came out of the nowhere. And those Spotties… I’m sure it’s related to how Yavin has been diminished these past few months.”
“What does that mean?” asks Kibi, alarmed.
“Yavin helps us with our diplomacy,” says Gehentas. “Have you heard of the Sister Gods? Yavin is the peacemaker, and Wlaqua is the war-monger. There’s a border on the far side of our kingdom, about a hundred miles from here, with the fungus people, the Myconids. We’ve had our issues with them, sure, but our shared veneration of Yavin has helped us keep the peace. But even over there, things are starting to break down. Like her influence is waning, and Wlaqua’s is waxing. We thought that might have something to do with why the Scuttle have decided to attack.”
Ernie winces. “I think something deeper and darker is waking up, and is making all deep and dark things stronger.”
“It’s possible that Wlaqua has been infected with Black Goo,” says Kibi.
The Company is brought out to the top of a wide wall. On one side of this wall is the settlement of Kehentohantas, built both above and below the “ground.” On the other side is a cavern so large it may as well be out of doors, illuminated by millions of light motes. The Wall rises eighty feet above the cavern floor and extends laterally several hundred feet in both directions. The ceiling is another hundred feet above the top of the wall. The back wall of the cavern is out of sight.
“There’s no door in the wall,” says Gehentas. “As part of the truce, we took it out. The Spotties can burrow to get in, but their tunnels collapse behind them, so the Scuttle can’t follow, thank Yavin.”
The cavern floor is a seething sea of Scuttle, climbing over one another, milling about, swarming over boulders. There are essence-infused Spotties mixed in with the rank-and-file scorpions. A few Scuttle are trying to scale the wall, but the Drevin are employing standard siege-breaking tactics: crossbows, boiling oil, boulders dropped downward. The wall itself has been coated with something slick, making it difficult for the Scuttle to find purchase.
Three Scuttle go flying overhead and land behind the wall. Several Drevin go rushing over with weapons drawn. In the haze of distant light motes, the Company sees that a couple dozen tall catapults loom behind the Scuttle ranks, some of which are flinging boulders, but most of which are firing the Scuttle themselves over the wall.
The Company forms a quick plan. Since Dranko and Flicker aren’t part of it, they head down into the city to help the Drevin fight the Scuttle hand-to-hand.
Kibi, he’s a big part of the plan. He can feel the Earth Magic here, seeping into his bones, suffusing him. He points at the cavern ceiling high above the masses of Scuttle and casts earthquake. The Pulse of Abernia empowers it further. The Drevin lower their crossbows and stand amazed, as far out above the line of catapults a huge chunk of ceiling collapses. Carriage-sized boulders rain down upon the Scuttle and their siege engines; at least two catapults are smashed to splinters. The Scuttle screech and flee the epicenter, but hundreds are crushed by a rain of stony death.
“That was incredible,” breathes Gehentas.
Stage two of the plan: Morningstar and Ernie each cast firestorm, blanketing huge swaths of the cavern floor. Terrible conflagrations of flames, golden and black, sweep across the stone. Five thousand square feet of Scuttle are crisped, and after a terrible shrieking sound, the sounds of the scorpions is clearly lessened. Smoke rises from the scorched bodies.
Between the earthquake and firestorms party estimates that between fifteen and twenty percent of the Scuttle have been annihilated, along with over half their catapults.
Flicker comes running up, his arm nearly severed. Ernie heals him and sends him back into the fray. “Flicker!” Dranko calls. “Hurry up! I need my flanking buddy back!”
Grey Wolf changes into his draconic form, grabs a couple of boulders in his claws, and flies out above the cavern, figuring he can help clean up the Scuttle near the wall that survived the firestorms. But as he launches himself outward, Gehentas becomes panicked. “No, you have to stop him! Don’t let him…”
Grey Wolf is slammed hard to the ground by an invisible force, eighty feet down to the cavern floor. He is immediately swarmed by Scuttle.
“The Scuttle can control gravity around flyers,” says Gehentas.
“So can I,” says Aravis. He leans out and casts reverse gravity around Grey Wolf, and his friend starts to rise, quickly at first, then more slowly, until he comes to a stop twenty feet off the ground, caught in a gravitational tug-of-war. Several Scuttle still cling to him, gouging his scales with their claws and stingers.
Grey Wolf teleports himself to the top of the wall, leaving the Scuttle to drop back down to the ground. Gehentas is distraught. “If I’d known you’d try flyin’ I’d a warned you! Just didn’t occur to me it was thing you could do.”
“We know now,” groans Grey Wolf. Morningstar heals him, while Ernie casts another firestorm down by the base of the wall. There is more screaming and the Scuttle are roasted, but by clearing them out, Ernie has revealed two of the Essence-infused Spotties starting to dig through the wall. Dozens of bowmen lean out over the wall and fire, but their bolts clank off the creatures’ plates.
Aravia quickens and maximizes a fireball. One Spotty is roasted on the spot but the other keeps digging.
“We’ve spent time hardening the very outer layer,” says Gehentas. “Takes ‘em a bit longer to get through than it might. But once it gets deeper in, it’ll chew through the stone like it’s bread.”
Aravis doesn’t let it get that far; he blasts it with a lightning bolt, and the Spotty explodes with the faintest whiff of Essence.
Kibi still feels the resonance of his earthquake humming in his bones. He casts a second, spoofing it with wish. This time he feels an even larger surge of Earth Magic welling up, similar to what erupted beneath the Croaking Oracle. The entire cavern shakes, and the Drevin shrink back. Out over the masses of Scuttle comes another hailstorm of boulders, some as large as houses. Siege engines are snapped like matchsticks. For a moment it seems as though the force of the spell might be too great, might extend the destruction to the ceiling above Kehentohantas. But the earthshaking fades, and the city is spared. Not so for the Scuttle, who are crushed by the hundreds.
Kibi smiles and tries to look like this is normal.
“I didn’t know you could cast ‘Armageddon,’” says Grey Wolf appreciatively. “Good thing you targeted it so far out!”
As the rumbling fades, it is replaced by a new, strange sound. It’s the Scuttle, but their collective sound has changed. They are screeching at the same precise pitch. Then, at once, they become silent and seethe away from the wall like a receding tide. Even the few remaining Spotties are fleeing. In less than a minute only a few stragglers are visible, the wounded, crawling over the rubble.
An eerie quiet settles over the cavern. Because of its size and the sheer numbers of light motes, the dark patches left by the firestorms have already filled back in. It seems they have repelled the attack. A ragged cheer goes up among the Drevin, but this peters out as something new appears, a while glow far back in the cavern, hundreds of yards away but moving forward, closer.
A figure comes into view. It is a white marble statue, standing with its arms extended, hands balled into fists. It has no features on its face; its head is a smooth white ovoid on its shoulders. It floats five feet above the ground, and none of its limbs move. White light shines out from it. The Drevin all shield their eyes.
“What is that?” breathes Kibi.
A voice sounds in all their heads at once – pure telepathy. The Drevin look around as if they hear it too.
“I am Ylerba, servant of the Goddess Wlaqua. Wlaqua has sent me to turn you back. Swear upon the my Holy visage that you will abandon your quest, and I will not hinder you. Otherwise, I will destroy you, and any who attempt to shield you. Do you acquiesce?”
The voice is unnaturally calm and even.
“No,” answer both Aravis and Ernie.
“Will you come out to face me then, or must I come in after you?”
“We will come out to face you,” says Aravis.
“We seek something foreign to your Underdark,” says Morningstar. “It does not belong here.”
“I know what you seek,” says the statue. “There is a new power beneath the Barrier, and we have come to an understanding with that power. Yavin has become irrelevant in the new order. You are making an unwise decision. I am unlike anything you have ever faced. Come down now, or I will take apart this wall.”
“Do not harm these people,” warns Ernie. “We will come down. But Yavin is not irrelevant, and never will be.”
“I think your new friend won’t prove to be the ally you think,” says Kibi.
“I have a deeper understanding of these things than you. Turn back, or come down and face your destruction.”
Kibi shrugs and turns to his friends. “I guess the local Gods are already mad at us, so what’s the harm in killing their emissary? Ready?”
He teleports the party down to the cavern floor below the wall, twenty feet in front of the white marble statue. Up close they see it is much larger than they, nearly fifteen feet from its feet to the top of its head. It holds no weapon and presents no obvious threat.
Flicker moves around to the far side of the creature, waiting to strike until Dranko is also in position. He watches it carefully, but it has no eyes to read. He can’t even be sure if he’s looking at its front or back.
A blade extends from the end of one marble arm, a blade coruscating with rainbow hues. The statue shifts toward Flicker with preternatural speed and hacks at him, and though he tries to dodge, the rainbow blade is too quick. Twice it strikes him, and a flash of white light bursts from the last point of impact. Flicker is hurled up and away as if thrown by a giant; the others hear his scream recede into the darkness.
Without turning, she extends her other hand toward the rest of the Company and casts prismatic spray. Morningstar is burned badly by acid, and Kibi is scorched even worse with electricity. Ernie and Aravis are flung backward into the wall with a pair of painful crunches. Grey Wolf suffers no damage, but is affected as if by dispel magic. He loses the effects of both heroes feast and righteous wraith of the faithful.
Only Dranko is unharmed by the statue’s spell, leaping and evading a blast of lightning.
Ernie, gets to his feet and casts energy drain on Ylerba, but the marble statue is immune.
Ylerba’s speaks into their minds. “If at any time you would like to surrender, and swear to me that you will abandon your quest, no further harm will come to you.”
“If at any time you’d like to stop serving evil,” says Ernie, “that would be fine too.”
Aravis stands up, dusts himself off, and drops a Mordenkainen’s disjunction on Ylerba. There is a ripple of power from the spell, and the statue is engulfed in darkness as the motes around her are annihilated (though the Company can still see her thanks to Aravis’s mass darkvision). Morningstar casts mass heal, then quickens divine power before moving into melee range with Dranko. Dranko takes a crack with his whip, and his attack knocks a tiny chip of marble from Ylerba’s shoulder.
“That was most unwise,” Ylerba admonishes.
Kibi summons up an Elder Earth Elemental to keep Ylerba occupied. Ylerba slashes at it as it grapples her, but the huge elemental grabs Ylerba is a huge stony fist and holds her up.
“I am honored to serve, and to sacrifice myself for you,” rumbles the elemental.
“And I am honored to fight by your side,” says Kibi.
Ylerba, whose arms are still free, slashes three times at the elemental holding her, knocking loose bits of its rocky bulk. The sword flashes blue with the last hit, but nothing untoward happens to the elemental. Kibi recognizes that blue is the color of petrification in a prismatic spray, and smiles to think how little that would bother an elder earth elemental.
With her other hand Ylerba again flashes the entire party with prismatic spray, but the Company fares much better this time around. Morningstar resists petrification and Aravis is immune to its poison thanks to the morning’s heroes feast. Ernie and Grey Wolf suffer only minor damage, and neither Dranko nor Flicker are in the area of the spell.
Flicker appears next to Ernie in a puff of smoke; he looks terrible. “Medic!” Ernie casts heal on Flicker, then moves himself out of easy cone-formation.
Aravis quickens true strike and strikes Ylerba with disintegrate. He expects that it will resist, but luck is with him. The beam punches a hole right through where a normal humanoid’s kidney would be, though he can see now that Ylerba is solid marble all the way through.
Morningstar stands tall before the statue and hacks at it with Ell’s Will, striking its legs which dangle below the elemental’s enclosing fist. Where it connects, cracks appear in the marble of Ylerba’s body like lines in a broken windowpane.
“I am Morningstar, Champion of Ell,” she intones. “I am instructed by my Goddess to defeat your ally. You may stand aside, or you will be destroyed.”
“Your God is absent,” says Ylerba. “My God is extremely present. In some sense, you are looking at Her now. I will not stand aside, Morningstar, Champion of Ell. But I will continue to extend my offer that you may surrender.”
Ylerba finishes smashing the elemental into rubble and floats free, shrugging off attacks as it positions itself for another prismatic spray. Lights flash. Kibi takes massive electrical damage, while Ernie is flung backward and smashed into the ground a hundred feet away. But both Grey Wolf and Dranko resist being driven insane, Aravis is not poisoned, and Morningstar is not petrified. Flicker leaps out of harm’s way entirely.
Dranko makes another whip-strike and knocks free another small chunk of marble. Kibi strikes Ylerba with ray of enfeeblement but his spell is thwarted by her resistance. Grey Wolf summons an enormous wolf, providing another speed bump.
Ernie activates his armor and flies back to the battle (a safe maneuver, now that the gravity-manipulating Scuttle have fled). He casts lion’s roar, bolstering the courage of his allies and knocking the top of one ear from Ylerba’s increasingly-damaged body. Aravis casts polymorph any object but Ylerba is not affected.
“Dranko!” thinks Kibi over the mind-link. “I’m going to cast cone of cold but you’re in the way.”
“Don’t worry,” replies Dranko. “I’ll dodge it.”
“Those will be your last words,” says Grey Wolf.
“No,” says Dranko. “That’ll be something like ‘ouch!’”
Kibi casts his spell maximized, and Dranko does manage to evade the damage. Frost coats Ylerba’s white marble, and the pinky of one hand snaps off. Grey Wolf follows up with an acid orb that leaves her skin steaming and pitted with holes.
“You can surrender any time, if you want,” says Dranko.
Morningstar again charges Ylerba, and knocks away a fist-sized chunk of the statue’s shoulder. Ylerba floats away from her and blasts yet another prismatic spray. Morningstar is flung up and away, smashing into the base of the city wall. Aravis takes a massive amount of electricity damage. And Kibi is turned to stone on the spot. But the others all resist the spell’s various effects, and this is the final discouraging straw for Ylerba. She flees into the darkness, back in the direction from which she arrived, accompanied by loud clucking noises from Dranko.
Ernie lines up his shot, and drops a flame strike on Ylerba. The Champion of Wlaqua stops as the column of flames roars down upon her. Has she decided to return and press the attack?
No. Her marble body collapses into a hundred different pieces, clattering to the stone ground.
/*/
Kibi feels quite comfortable. Ylerba’s spell has merely changed him from one natural form to another. True, he can’t move, and he feels his consciousness slowly fading, but there is something right about him being made of nothing but pure rock.
“I AM ABERNIA”
The world is speaking to him. He recognizes its voice from his dreams.
“What can I do to help you?” he offers. “I’ve been dreaming that you are in pain, from a thorn in your side.”
“IT IS TRUE. I NEED YOUR HELP.”
“Is our quest going to help you?”
“IT IS THE ONLY THING THAT CAN. I AM INJURED. I AM FESTERING INSIDE.”
“The black goo?”
“THE SOURCE OF ALL ESSENCE. THE ADVERSARY AWAKENS WITHIN ME. DO NOT ALLOW IT. IT MUST BE YOU WHO BREAKS ITS SHELL. THE SPLINTER… THE SPLINTER…”
And the voice fades.
…to be continued…
