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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1612645" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 160“I am not saying that she was false,” Morgan said.  “I am merely suggesting that... whatever she was, she may have... altered... your perceptions.”Zenna shook her head, but did not respond; she’d already made her feelings known in their discussion earlier that morning.  Arun, however, was not so reluctant. “She was a celestial,” he said with finality, ending the argument that they’d had since that morning in their camp, when Zenna and Arun had shared the news of Nidrama’s visit with the others. Morgan subsided, but Zenna could tell that he still bore doubts.  Zenna thought that she understood his feelings; the cleric’s initial reaction to the news had betrayed a deep disappointment, that a heavenly being would choose to appear to others in the group, rather than to him.  To her, in particular.  In the face of this rejection, perhaps it was easier to deny the reality of what had happened, to suggest that somehow the visit by the celestial was a false vision, something to confound and mislead them.  On the other hand, they could not afford to reject the warning brought by the deva.  With a confirmation that Alek Tercival might indeed lie at the end of this road, they also had to deal with the threat confronted by this “Lord of the Demonskar” she had referenced.  A major demon of some sort, Zenna surmised, from the clues Nidrama had given and from what she knew of the history of this place.  She knew something of such things, from the tales of her father and his companions.  And she carried the blood of demons in her veins...She shook her head, angry at herself for allowing such thoughts to creep into the disciplined corridors of her mind.  No, she would need control, with what lie ahead.The trail had begun to rise shortly after they’d departed their camp that morning, although it was still negotiable without undue hazard.  By midmorning they began to notice ruins shrouded by the jungle, nothing more than a few stone blocks or shattered flagstones overgrown with weeds and other growth.  Everything was crumbling with great age.  Arun examined the remnants of an ancient pillar, and frowned, although he did not share his thoughts with the others. “What’s that?” Mole asked, drawing their attention up ahead. The trail moved up a steady incline to a clearing, the far side of which was a rough-edged cliff perhaps thirty feet in height.  Above them, beyond the cliffs, they could see the jagged outline of a high ridge through the jungle canopy; the outer rim of the Demonskar.  But what drew their focus was a large, dark opening, perhaps twenty feet across, in the cliff wall.  Too regular to be natural, the opening was almost perfectly round, like a giant sewer pipe that had been broken off in some cataclysm. “The round cave,” Dannel said, drawing their thoughts back to the silver plate he carried. “And beyond, Vaprak’s Voice,” Mole added, remembering the rest of the crudely etched map.  “This ‘Vaprak’ don’t sound like no friendly sort,” Hodge grunted. “He is the god of the ogres, and no, he’s not friendly,” Zenna told him. For a moment, they stood there, drawing in their courage as they faced the dark opening that progressed who knew how far into the earth.  “That doesn’t look very appealing,” Mole finally said. “Well, it isn’t going to get any easier by us standing here,” Arun finally said, starting toward the tunnel. “Wait!” Zenna hissed.  The others all turned toward her in alarm. “What is it?” Dannel asked, an arrow already fitted to his bow. “Shhh... cannot you feel it?” They looked around, but could not see what had alerted the tiefling.  “We are not alone here.”In response, a harsh, guttural laughter sounded from the forest edge, near the mouth of the huge pipe.  It was echoed a moment later by another, deeper rumbling from within the dark opening, the hollow tunnel building and distorting the sound until it shook their souls to hear it.  Morgan’s glowing sword slid from its scabbard with an expectant hiss.  “A welcoming party,” he said.“There!” Zenna said, pointing. They turned to see what she had seen, as its cloak of invisibility slid off from it like a slick of oil, revealing a monstrosity perched atop the jutting edge of the pipe, twenty feet above them.  It had the look of a giant ape, but even before they heard the sick laughter that rumbled in its chest, they knew that what they looked upon was no natural creature.  Its body was a knot of muscles and jutting edges of bone, and its black claws that clutched the pipe were rivaled only by the long teeth that protruded from its over-sized jaws.  Its eyes were pinpricks of red light that flared malevolently as they stared down at the companions. The demon laughed once more, and then attacked.</blockquote>

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