Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 1725832" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks again for the kudos, readers; I really appreciate it. Your posts are the main reason that this site is the first that I check when I come home from work (with update in hand). Thanks for the reminder.  I've updated the Rogues' Gallery thread with the ECL9 stats of the core characters.  Morgan will level a bit later. * * * * * Chapter 207“The Plain of Cysts,” Kaurophon said.  “The site of an ancient battlefield between celestials and demons, cast down with the rest of Occipitus when the plane was torn from the celestial realms.”“Wonderful,” Zenna said.  The light of the magical lantern shone directly ahead, into the battlefield.  “What’s in those?” Mole asked, pointing at the nearest of the objects that gave the region its name. The cyst was a grayish globule perhaps five feet in length, hugging the ground like the cocoon of some huge caterpillar.  A black tube was visible protruding from one end of the cyst, sinking into the ground beneath.  There were hundreds of them, spread out around the battlefield, as far as they could see.    “The remains of the celestials who fell here,” the sorcerer said.  “Some demons say that as the plane absorbs their essences, it becomes more hostile to their kind.”  “So Occipitus is just... sucking them up?  That’s disgusting,” Mole said, even as she edged closer to the cyst to get a better view.  “Leave the fallen be,” Arun said.  “Our way lies forward, then.  Would you like me to carry the beacon?”Zenna shook her head.  “I can keep it.  Something tells me that we might need your sword, in there.”The dwarf nodded, and they started forward, into the ancient battlefield.  The companions formed a wedge around Zenna, the magical lantern clearly identifying their path ahead.  They passed numerous cysts, including a few that were several times the size of the first, almost as if they were giant pale boulders rising out of the plain.  Abruptly the lantern twisted on its pole, its light now shining to their right, perpendicular to their original course. “That’s odd,” Dannel said.  “So we’re supposed to change course, just like that?”“Apparently so,” Zenna replied.  “I don’t understand it any better than you do.”They moved onward, but they’d only gone a few dozen paces when Dannel raised his hand in caution.“What is it?” Zenna whispered, stopping.“I heard something... just ahead, behind those big cysts.”Warily, the elf started forward, while the rest of them silently drew weapons, prepared spells, and waited.  But the elf had gotten barely ten feet ahead of them when there was a bright flash, and they found themselves standing at the entrance to the field of cysts, back where they had started.  “What was that?” Morgan asked, looking around in confusion. “A part of the challenge, I would presume,” Zenna said.  “Apparently there’s some property to the plain that removes intruders.”  She glanced at Kaurophon with a questioning look. “I have heard of no such property,” the sorcerer said.  “But I admit I have not spent much time in this particular place here myself.”“Well, how are we supposed to get through?” Mole asked.  “The lantern is shining forward again.”“Perhaps we can go around it?” Arun suggested.Zenna shook her head.  “I may be wrong, but I’d wager that whatever we’re supposed to find is in there somewhere.”“I agree,” Dannel said.  “So we just need to figure out what triggered the teleportation.”“Maybe it was that what yer heard, elf,” Hodge said. “Perhaps.  Let us try again.”They entered the plain again, quickly retracing their steps to where they’d reached before.  Once again, they heard the faint sounds of activity ahead, although they could not see what it was through all the obstructing cysts.  “Maybe we’re supposed to stay together,” Dannel suggested.  They all moved forward, cautiously.  The lantern shifted again, drawing them around another tight turn to the right.  They had to be heading back along their initial route, Zenna thought, wondering if there was a logic to this maze, or if it was just a random course, indecipherable to one not bearing the lantern.  Given what she knew of demons, she suspected the latter. Then they moved far enough around a series of cysts to see what had alerted them.  Not far off the “path” stood a small group of humans, gathered around an opened cyst. All were lean and muscular, their flesh marked with tattoos inked in colorful patterns of red and violet.  Three were men, clad in flowing robes gathered in at their calves and forearms with leather cords, while the fourth was a woman, clad in plate armor, with an odd symbol bearing a fierce female visage cast in gold fixed across the brow of her open-faced helm.  They looked up as the companions drew near, and Zenna felt a twinge of revulsion as she saw the corpse lying at their feet.  It was mostly dismembered now, its head and spinal column torn from the body, but enough remained, particularly the blood-stained white wings crushed beneath its body, to identify what it had been. “Whut valud, nass talath ‘ar phaland Wee Jas?” the woman said, her voice stilted and formal, each syllable clearly fashioned.  Zenna looked at Dannel, but the elf only shrugged.  “I’ve never heard the like,” he said.  “We don’t know what you’re saying,” Zenna said.  She saw that the travelers were tense, and several of the men were slowly reaching for the daggers at their belts. “Lesset tarun chakkar noth,” the woman said, making a slashing gesture with her hand to punctuate her statement. “We do not mean to intrude upon your ritual,” Kaurophon said, his voice even, reassuring.  He gestured toward the left, along their path, indicating that they would move on. And then, there was a flash.  Zenna had almost forgotten about the teleportation, but she wasn’t surprised to find themselves back on the edge of the plain once again. But this time, they weren’t alone.  The strangers were here as well, and they clearly weren’t happy about it.  The woman let out a trill that sent a chill down her back, and as she lifted her spear, her three fellows leapt to the attack, daggers hissing from the sheaths at their belts.</blockquote>

Verification