The Pillars of the World
Ashimar crept forward through the darkened tunnel, trying to use the irregularities in the walls for cover. Three months of near constant danger had raised the new-made priest’s alertness to an uncanny level and he had learned to pay attention to what his senses told him. There was a reason he volunteered to scout ahead for the party
The walls roze up to either side of him in the muted black and white vision conferred by Jallarzi’s spell, almost like some gargantuan creature had burrowed through the rock, leaving rippled striations in the rock. The air was cool this far beneath the ground, but not quite frigid, and filled with a strange, musky scent. The predominant sounds were that of Kellron’s clanking armor some thirty feet behind him and the minute, scuffing sound his own feet made as he padded down the dusty, rocky tunnel.
“Tik. Shsst.” Two sounds in the darkness, so faint they almost weren’t heard. For a moment Ashimar wasn’t sure he had heard them, but he stopped anyway and peered to the edges of his spell-enhanced vision.
There. Almost fifty feet away, where the tunnel widened from its fifteen foot width to twenty five feet, were two lumps. Even with good light a casual observer wouldn’t have noticed the lumps, but Ashimar saw the break in the pattern of the walls. Two creatures were there, hiding underneath expert camouflage and they were holding something in their hands just behind the curve of the walls; those somethings were almost certainly weapons. The creatures were apparently waiting expectantly though it was hard to tell at that distance with their camouflage. He wasn’t sure if they saw him or not.
A clank from behind reminded Ashimar that even if the creatures ahead (almost certainly troglodytes) didn’t see him yet, they almost certainly knew of Kellron behind him. One of the creatures shifted slightly and finally showed the spear it had been hiding, bringing it to a near-ready position.
That decided it for Ashimar. “Jallarzi!” Called out the former rogue. “Ambush! About fifty feet ahead of me!”
----
Drkt’lok was the eldest scout of the tribe and it was his duty to slow and hopefully deter the trolls before they came down this holy tunnel. If need be he would die defending the holiest cave from the trolls; though if it came to a fight he probably would die against the ravening beasts.
The clanking sound had been coming closer and he wondered if it heralded the death that had come to the Topknots. Certainly no troll made metal noises. Drkt’lok signaled his companions to ready themselves, best to be ready just in case. If they were trolls they would release their musk from hiding. If it was the troll-death they would do the same, or perhaps bargain with it if it was willing.
Then came the shout and Drkt’lok swore. He hadn’t seen the orc-sized creature get that close. Briefly he wondered what it was yelling. Then there was a higher pitched voice from further behind the orc-creature and Drkt’lok’s world exploded in fire.
-----
“Hells!” Swore Ashimar. “There were more of them than I thought and I think one got away.” He started to move down the hallway. “I’ll go after it.”
“No.” Disputed Kellron. “I can’t move fast in this armor and we’re not splitting up.”
Ashimar came up short and then nodded. “So what do we do? Go after them?”
The time-lost paladin of Sarath looked at the fire-scorched walls about them. “We could wait for them here and let them come to us.”
So words to deed, the foursome prepared themselves and waited. They didn’t have to wait long.
-----
Ruk’tk the Great, chieftan of the Bone-Dagger troglodytes, snarled at his scout’s report and almost killed the scout for the news he brought. Revenge would have to wait though, for the troll-killers were apparently coming here. After this was over he would disembowel the scout and feed the hearts to the women of the tribe.
Ruk’tk thought fast. The troll-killers were probably looking for more trolls to kill and treasure to take. They wore armor of metal and conjured magic fire. The chieftan wondered if it was possible to talk to the troll-killers. It wasn’t something Ruk’tk normally considered, but these strangers had wiped out the Top-Knots to a troll and took all their goods.
“Gather with me and we’ll meet these killers.” He barked to his tribe. “Bring the spears and knives. We will meet them all at once and see what they want. If they wish to fight they will die. If they wish to talk, we will send them to the troll and feed well on cooked troll-flesh.”
There was a rumble of agreement. Together they were strong.
----
“They’re out there. I can hear them.” Reported Ashimar.
Kestral nodded her agreement. While her senses were not quite as acute as Ashimar’s, the young woman was still capable of paying attention to what she heard.
“It would be better if we make them come to us.” Remarked Ashimar. “We don’t want to get in the open cave and get surrounded by all of them.” Unspoken was that leaving Jallarzi and Kestral undefended would be a bad tactical decision.
Unspoken but not unheard. Kellron finally nodded and looked at Kestral. “Can you provoke them into charging us?”
Her eyes widened slightly at that and Kellron shrugged and pointed to the still smoking corpses behind them. “It’s not like we haven’t already provoked them.” He pointed out. “We might as well try and get them to do what we want.”
Kestral nodded and turned to face down the tunnel and shouted out something. No one understood it, but everyone flinched at the vehemence. Kestral coughed slightly, clearing her throat and said something different this time, though it sounded just as foul.
There was a moment of silence and then there was a cry of rage.
“I don’t know what you said, but here they come.” Said Kellron.
Kestral got her bow ready and moved back to stand beside Jallarzi. “You’re too nice to know.” She told him as she moved past him.*
----
The troglodytes came upon the four adventures in two waves. The first wave was repulsed, blasted really, as they bunched up around Ashimar and Kellron. The two warriors held them off long enough for Jallarzi to lay down a fireball from her wand.
The troglodytes were fanatical though for they had nowhere else to go and their honor had been wounded. On orders the troglodytes fighting Kellron and Ashimar broke ranks and rushed to the back ranks looking for the spellcaster. Ashimar lashed out a few times as these creatures left combat with him, as did Kellron, but then the second wave of troglodytes broke over the pair.
The fighting became fast and furious and Kestral was forced to drop her bow and draw her blade while Kellron and Ashimar fought their way back to defend the wizard. Jallarzi needed very little defending though, laying about with magic missiles and flaming spheres. The musk of the troglodytes was nauseating to all, but the four surface-folk shrugged it off as they laid about them.
Then the trolls came.
Three of the ugly brutes, attracted by the explosions and the flashes of light, and they came from the tunnel behind Jallarzi and Kestral. As the first troll laid into Jallarzi she experienced a flash of deja-vu as a deadly claw pierced her bracer’s magical armor and slashed through cloth and skin. Fortunately her protections held against the rest of the assault.
Kellron broke away from the troglodyte he was fighting and moved towards the trolls. Ashimar was less able, caught up with four troglodytes, including the largest of them who appeared to be the chieftan.
The fight lasted over two minutes from start to finish and when it was done not a troll or troglodyte was left standing. Kellron invoked Sarath’s grace to heal his companions and what he could not heal was set to right with the potions they carried. Cautiously they proceeded into the great cavern the troglodytes had been lairing in; a huge cavern some one hundred and fifty feet across and almost three hundred feet long, with the ceiling vaulting up overhead out of sight.
----
It stood before the four of them, rising up out the ground like some massive pillar raised to lift the vault of heaven itself; a gray and black column of rock some twenty feet around and rising up to the ceiling well out of sight of their enhanced vision.
“What is it?” Whispered Kestral, a touch of reverence in her voice.
“A Pillar of the World.” Replied Jallarzi. “A gift of Tasa, the world-mother and builder of bodies. Panther told me a story of them one night. If you leave a gift for the guardian it is said that she will take impurities from your body, healing the gifter and making them stronger.”**
The four friends conferred briefly on what they should do. In the end they decided. Digging into their bags and opening the hut to look through their foot lockers, the group took out four thousand golden lions worth of gems and coins and laid them against the pillar
At first nothing happened and then there was a sound, like rock flowing against rock and a figure stepped out of the stone column, leaving no trace of its exit. The figure stood over ten feet tall and was vaguely woman shaped, and was made of the same black and gray stone. It looked upon the four friends.
:You have rid these caverns of an ugly presence that would not observe the proper rituals. You have my thanks and the thanks of Tasa herself. Speak of what you wish and the goddess will remake you through me.;
One by one the four friends stepped forward and made their requests and one by one those requests were granted.
Kellron asked for leadership ability and was given greater charisma.
Ashimar asked for wisdom and was so granted.
Jallarzi wished to become the most talented wizard and her intelligence was raised.
Finally, Kestral asked for both mental and verbal quickness and found that her dexterity and charisma were modestly enhanced (the bonuses were split).
----
*Kestral’s player wasn’t there that session. She had been discussing trying to find a peaceful solution to the troglodyte problem.
**This wasn’t in the module. I wanted to see how stat enhancers would affect the game so put this in to see if anyone would purchase a +2 stat increase – they all did.
As I said earlier, I accidentally wrote Panther out of this sequence. In the actual game he was the person who recognized it (love bardic lore) and he was the first person to lay down his gift. The others were trying to figure out how much money was a suitable gift, he just looked at his character sheet and said “I have 1000gp on me, I leave it all there.” It was very cool.
On a side note, I didn’t find these little +2 inherent stat bonuses that unbalancing.
edit: Thanks to Kestral's player again for catching all those little typo's.
Ashimar crept forward through the darkened tunnel, trying to use the irregularities in the walls for cover. Three months of near constant danger had raised the new-made priest’s alertness to an uncanny level and he had learned to pay attention to what his senses told him. There was a reason he volunteered to scout ahead for the party
The walls roze up to either side of him in the muted black and white vision conferred by Jallarzi’s spell, almost like some gargantuan creature had burrowed through the rock, leaving rippled striations in the rock. The air was cool this far beneath the ground, but not quite frigid, and filled with a strange, musky scent. The predominant sounds were that of Kellron’s clanking armor some thirty feet behind him and the minute, scuffing sound his own feet made as he padded down the dusty, rocky tunnel.
“Tik. Shsst.” Two sounds in the darkness, so faint they almost weren’t heard. For a moment Ashimar wasn’t sure he had heard them, but he stopped anyway and peered to the edges of his spell-enhanced vision.
There. Almost fifty feet away, where the tunnel widened from its fifteen foot width to twenty five feet, were two lumps. Even with good light a casual observer wouldn’t have noticed the lumps, but Ashimar saw the break in the pattern of the walls. Two creatures were there, hiding underneath expert camouflage and they were holding something in their hands just behind the curve of the walls; those somethings were almost certainly weapons. The creatures were apparently waiting expectantly though it was hard to tell at that distance with their camouflage. He wasn’t sure if they saw him or not.
A clank from behind reminded Ashimar that even if the creatures ahead (almost certainly troglodytes) didn’t see him yet, they almost certainly knew of Kellron behind him. One of the creatures shifted slightly and finally showed the spear it had been hiding, bringing it to a near-ready position.
That decided it for Ashimar. “Jallarzi!” Called out the former rogue. “Ambush! About fifty feet ahead of me!”
----
Drkt’lok was the eldest scout of the tribe and it was his duty to slow and hopefully deter the trolls before they came down this holy tunnel. If need be he would die defending the holiest cave from the trolls; though if it came to a fight he probably would die against the ravening beasts.
The clanking sound had been coming closer and he wondered if it heralded the death that had come to the Topknots. Certainly no troll made metal noises. Drkt’lok signaled his companions to ready themselves, best to be ready just in case. If they were trolls they would release their musk from hiding. If it was the troll-death they would do the same, or perhaps bargain with it if it was willing.
Then came the shout and Drkt’lok swore. He hadn’t seen the orc-sized creature get that close. Briefly he wondered what it was yelling. Then there was a higher pitched voice from further behind the orc-creature and Drkt’lok’s world exploded in fire.
-----
“Hells!” Swore Ashimar. “There were more of them than I thought and I think one got away.” He started to move down the hallway. “I’ll go after it.”
“No.” Disputed Kellron. “I can’t move fast in this armor and we’re not splitting up.”
Ashimar came up short and then nodded. “So what do we do? Go after them?”
The time-lost paladin of Sarath looked at the fire-scorched walls about them. “We could wait for them here and let them come to us.”
So words to deed, the foursome prepared themselves and waited. They didn’t have to wait long.
-----
Ruk’tk the Great, chieftan of the Bone-Dagger troglodytes, snarled at his scout’s report and almost killed the scout for the news he brought. Revenge would have to wait though, for the troll-killers were apparently coming here. After this was over he would disembowel the scout and feed the hearts to the women of the tribe.
Ruk’tk thought fast. The troll-killers were probably looking for more trolls to kill and treasure to take. They wore armor of metal and conjured magic fire. The chieftan wondered if it was possible to talk to the troll-killers. It wasn’t something Ruk’tk normally considered, but these strangers had wiped out the Top-Knots to a troll and took all their goods.
“Gather with me and we’ll meet these killers.” He barked to his tribe. “Bring the spears and knives. We will meet them all at once and see what they want. If they wish to fight they will die. If they wish to talk, we will send them to the troll and feed well on cooked troll-flesh.”
There was a rumble of agreement. Together they were strong.
----
“They’re out there. I can hear them.” Reported Ashimar.
Kestral nodded her agreement. While her senses were not quite as acute as Ashimar’s, the young woman was still capable of paying attention to what she heard.
“It would be better if we make them come to us.” Remarked Ashimar. “We don’t want to get in the open cave and get surrounded by all of them.” Unspoken was that leaving Jallarzi and Kestral undefended would be a bad tactical decision.
Unspoken but not unheard. Kellron finally nodded and looked at Kestral. “Can you provoke them into charging us?”
Her eyes widened slightly at that and Kellron shrugged and pointed to the still smoking corpses behind them. “It’s not like we haven’t already provoked them.” He pointed out. “We might as well try and get them to do what we want.”
Kestral nodded and turned to face down the tunnel and shouted out something. No one understood it, but everyone flinched at the vehemence. Kestral coughed slightly, clearing her throat and said something different this time, though it sounded just as foul.
There was a moment of silence and then there was a cry of rage.
“I don’t know what you said, but here they come.” Said Kellron.
Kestral got her bow ready and moved back to stand beside Jallarzi. “You’re too nice to know.” She told him as she moved past him.*
----
The troglodytes came upon the four adventures in two waves. The first wave was repulsed, blasted really, as they bunched up around Ashimar and Kellron. The two warriors held them off long enough for Jallarzi to lay down a fireball from her wand.
The troglodytes were fanatical though for they had nowhere else to go and their honor had been wounded. On orders the troglodytes fighting Kellron and Ashimar broke ranks and rushed to the back ranks looking for the spellcaster. Ashimar lashed out a few times as these creatures left combat with him, as did Kellron, but then the second wave of troglodytes broke over the pair.
The fighting became fast and furious and Kestral was forced to drop her bow and draw her blade while Kellron and Ashimar fought their way back to defend the wizard. Jallarzi needed very little defending though, laying about with magic missiles and flaming spheres. The musk of the troglodytes was nauseating to all, but the four surface-folk shrugged it off as they laid about them.
Then the trolls came.
Three of the ugly brutes, attracted by the explosions and the flashes of light, and they came from the tunnel behind Jallarzi and Kestral. As the first troll laid into Jallarzi she experienced a flash of deja-vu as a deadly claw pierced her bracer’s magical armor and slashed through cloth and skin. Fortunately her protections held against the rest of the assault.
Kellron broke away from the troglodyte he was fighting and moved towards the trolls. Ashimar was less able, caught up with four troglodytes, including the largest of them who appeared to be the chieftan.
The fight lasted over two minutes from start to finish and when it was done not a troll or troglodyte was left standing. Kellron invoked Sarath’s grace to heal his companions and what he could not heal was set to right with the potions they carried. Cautiously they proceeded into the great cavern the troglodytes had been lairing in; a huge cavern some one hundred and fifty feet across and almost three hundred feet long, with the ceiling vaulting up overhead out of sight.
----
It stood before the four of them, rising up out the ground like some massive pillar raised to lift the vault of heaven itself; a gray and black column of rock some twenty feet around and rising up to the ceiling well out of sight of their enhanced vision.
“What is it?” Whispered Kestral, a touch of reverence in her voice.
“A Pillar of the World.” Replied Jallarzi. “A gift of Tasa, the world-mother and builder of bodies. Panther told me a story of them one night. If you leave a gift for the guardian it is said that she will take impurities from your body, healing the gifter and making them stronger.”**
The four friends conferred briefly on what they should do. In the end they decided. Digging into their bags and opening the hut to look through their foot lockers, the group took out four thousand golden lions worth of gems and coins and laid them against the pillar
At first nothing happened and then there was a sound, like rock flowing against rock and a figure stepped out of the stone column, leaving no trace of its exit. The figure stood over ten feet tall and was vaguely woman shaped, and was made of the same black and gray stone. It looked upon the four friends.
:You have rid these caverns of an ugly presence that would not observe the proper rituals. You have my thanks and the thanks of Tasa herself. Speak of what you wish and the goddess will remake you through me.;
One by one the four friends stepped forward and made their requests and one by one those requests were granted.
Kellron asked for leadership ability and was given greater charisma.
Ashimar asked for wisdom and was so granted.
Jallarzi wished to become the most talented wizard and her intelligence was raised.
Finally, Kestral asked for both mental and verbal quickness and found that her dexterity and charisma were modestly enhanced (the bonuses were split).
----
*Kestral’s player wasn’t there that session. She had been discussing trying to find a peaceful solution to the troglodyte problem.
**This wasn’t in the module. I wanted to see how stat enhancers would affect the game so put this in to see if anyone would purchase a +2 stat increase – they all did.
As I said earlier, I accidentally wrote Panther out of this sequence. In the actual game he was the person who recognized it (love bardic lore) and he was the first person to lay down his gift. The others were trying to figure out how much money was a suitable gift, he just looked at his character sheet and said “I have 1000gp on me, I leave it all there.” It was very cool.
On a side note, I didn’t find these little +2 inherent stat bonuses that unbalancing.
edit: Thanks to Kestral's player again for catching all those little typo's.
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