This installment's probably a bit longer than it should be for a single post, but I couldn't decide on a good breaking point.
Shadows in the Mountains, Part One
The group materialized in the woods just a few hours outside Waterdeep. They inhaled in unison, a reflexive reaction to the relatively sudden return of their weight and mass after hours of travel in mist-like forms. Stopping only long enough to get their bearings and make sure nothing was missing, the party soon began to walk north to the City of Splendors.
The road to Waterdeep’s southern gate was jammed with travelers, both merchants and residents of the outlying farmsteads hoping to get into the city for tomorrow’s Greengrass Festival celebrations. Wagons rolled along side by side, a few of the more ambitious merchants attempting to sell their wares to passers-by while still moving. Eventually, the walls of Waterdeep loomed over their heads.
“Good afternoon, and well met, travelers,” said a portly gate guard, in a tone that suggested despite having said the same thing over and over again for hours, deep down he really meant it. “Business in the city?”
The party looked at each other with uncertainty. Though they assumed that they would easily find something worthy of their attention here, none of them had come with any specific plans. “Well,” offered Niles to the guard, “we’re here for the festival, of course, and…”
“And mostly we just want to exchange all our burdensome coin for some of your city’s fine wares,” piped in Alia.
The guard’s face brightened. “Welcome to Waterdeep!” he said. “Inns are getting full, but you should still be able to find a decent spot if you don’t dally. But I’d stay away from the Dock Ward if I were you.”
“Why is that?” asked Ehput-Ki.
“There’s a war going on right now,” he said somberly, glancing about as if telling a great secret. “A thieves’ war. A few of the smaller guilds are making moves for new territory. The Dock’s never been a real cheery place, let me tell you, but right now it’s downright nasty. Shame, what with it being Greengrass and all.”
“Thank you for your advice,” said Ehput-Ki, as the group moved through the gate down a wide street.
There are few who come to Waterdeep for the first time that aren’t awed by the size and grandeur of the City of Splendors. Even Niles, who had been here before, couldn’t help but glance to and fro at the frenzy of activity, color, and sound surrounding them. Glancing about, he spotted a small wooden sign down a side street.
“Hey!” he shouted, grabbing onto Kiy’s leg and pointing with his other hand. “It’s the Wailing Boar! That’s the inn where I met my old adventuring companions, back when we took on those Red Wizards! Tantu, you remember some of them, right? Xerimus, and Evyn, and Sashelas?”
Tantu nodded his head. He’d met Niles and his companions far to the north, in the ruins of an old castle hidden in the Spine of the World Mountains. He’d gone there, following strange visions he’d been sent by Tyr, but was captured and imprisoned far below the castle. He remembered hearing the sounds of a mighty battle above him, and a few days later he’d been found.
“Do you suppose they’d have rooms?” asked Alia. “Seems as good a place as any to start.”
Fortune was with them; the Wailing Boar still had rooms available. After handing over enough gold to pay for a full tenday, the party gathered in one of their rented room to discuss their plans.
“Tantu, Ehput-Ki and I can handle selling off the stuff we found in that mind flayer hideout,” said Alia. “Most of the shops will be open late tonight since they’ll be closed for Greengrass. Hopefully we can get some good prices.”
“I’d also like to visit Tyr’s temple in the city,” said Tantu.
“And I understand that Horus-Re has a small temple here as well,” stated Ehput-Ki.
“Sure, sure, no problem. After the shops, of course.” Alia looked around the group. “So, is anybody looking for anything?”
“Niles and I are planning on finding the local mage’s guild,” said Myoo. “However, should you run across an item called a Hand of Glory at a reasonable price, please purchase it for me.”
Alia winced slightly. “That’s one of those mummified hands you wear around your neck, isn’t it?”
Myoo nodded.
“Whatever makes you happy,” she shrugged. “Kiy?”
The wild elf, who was looking somewhat uncomfortable in the windowless room, nodded vaguely toward the door. “I wish to explore the city,” he said. “I wish to experience it.”
“By yourself?” asked Ehput-Ki. “Is that wise?”
Something happened on Kiy’s face that might have almost been a smile. “I will be fine,” he replied.
* * *
Alia, Tantu, and Ehput-Ki spend most of the remaining day going from shop to shop, bargaining with their recovered goods. They also stopped at a weapon-smith who advertised enchanted weapons, and negotiated to have some work done. With freshly written letters of credit securely packed away, the trio walked toward the Temple of Tyr.
It was a magnificent structure, with three towers jutting into the sky. They walked under an archway created by an enormous marble carving of the scales of justice. They spent several minutes admiring bas relief carvings of scenes from the lives of several Tyrian saints before they were approached by a middle-aged man in dull gray field plate armor.
“Well met,” he said, bowing slightly when he saw Tantu. “I am Kelorn, of the Order of the Justicar. May I be of assistance to you?”
“Well met, Kelorn. I am Tantu, and these are my companions Alia and Ehput-Ki. I have come to pay my respects to my god, and to see if there are matters of concern to Tyr to which I may lend my strength.”
“Indeed? And do your companions also follow the will of Tyr?” Kelorn regarded Ehput-Ki for a moment. “This one appears to follow the gods of Mulhorand, not Faerun.”
“Though I am the only one who had sworn to serve Tyr above all others,” replied Tantu, “my companions are good and just, and would be willing to assist if the need were great.”
Kelorn considered the trio as Alia and Ehput-Ki nodded their agreement with Tantu’s words. “Then perhaps there is a matter which you could aid us with,” he said at last. “Please, come with me.”
He led them out of the main temple area into a long hallway, and ushered them into a small room. A mural of the Sword Coast was on one wall. Kelorn pointed at the map at a mountainous cluster just northwest of Waterdeep.
“The Sword Mountains,” he said. A small range of low mountains lying between Kryptgarden Forest and the Mere of Dead Men.”
“Sounds charming,” commented Alia.
“Indeed,” said Kelorn, either missing or ignoring the sarcasm, “skirting the foothills of the mountains has been the only safe road between these places. But in the last few days, several of the high priests here at the temple have been receiving disturbing visions in their dreams. They sense a growing menace in the mountains, an unidentifiable evil that threatens to spill south into our city. So troubling are these visions that the High Priest has commanded an expedition into the mountains to investigate. However, many of our people are away because of tomorrow’s festival, and so it will be a tenday before we’re ready to depart.”
“What would you wish of us?” Tantu asked.
“I would ask that you and your companions act as a scouting force. Journey into the mountains, see if you can discover the nature and source of this evil. Eliminate it if you can, or weaken it to give our forces a better chance to vanquish them. At the very least, any intelligence you can obtain would be helpful.”
“You say several of your priests have had these visions,” said Ehput-Ki. “Are these messages only being sent to priests of Tyr, or have those dedicated to other gods received similar messages?”
“That I do not know,” admitted Kelorn. “My duties to the temple prevent me from knowing much that happens outside its walls. You are free to inquire as to that.”
“If we do find something, and we find ourselves unable to escape, how will we be able to reach you?” asked Tantu.
Kelorn frowned, and scratched at his thick beard. “One moment,” he said, and walked out of the room. He returned ten minutes later with a rune-carved ivory wand, which he handed to Tantu.
“Break this,” he said, “and you will be able to send a short message that I will hear regardless of where I am, and I will be able to reply in a similar manner. Your message is limited to perhaps two dozen words, so choose what you say carefully. If I receive a message from you, I will assume that you are in fact in dire peril, and will come to your aid as quickly as I can with what men I have available at the time. Bear in mind that I will be several days behind you, however.”
“Thank you,” said Tantu, tucking the wand away. “I’ll speak with my companions tonight, and hopefully we can leave after the festival. But we must take our leave now. My companion here wishes to find the temple of his own god.”
They said their goodbyes and left. They came across the temple of Horus-Re about an hour later, a much smaller structure than the temple of Tyr. But care had obviously been taken to make it as glorious as possible within their limited space. Ehput-Ki conversed with the high priest at length, and learned that they, too, had been receiving strange dreams about an evil in the Sword Mountains. Ehput-Ki agreed to return tomorrow for a sunrise devotional, and to discuss the matter further. Before leaving, Ehput-Ki gave the priest a large sack of gold, a tithe for his church.
As they walked out of the small temple, Alia turned to Tantu. “So, how come you didn’t give any money to your church?”
Meanwhile, both Myoo and Niles had located the local Mage’s Guild. After paying for membership, which granted them lifetime spellcasting privileges within the city, they sat about the guildhall, discussing matters of arcane importance. Myoo was searching out anyone he could to give him tidbits on the construction of magical items, while Niles pumped the other wizards for local news and rumors.
“I say, Master Calvangnaw,” said one old wizard, puffing on a long pipe, “this is a rather exotic blend of pipeweed. Where did you say it was from?”
“Oh, just something I picked up in a little place in Tilverton,” he answered, smiling to himself. This ‘exotic blend’ was sure to loosen a few tongues.
Discussion turned to local matters. “So, what do you make of this rumor about the priests?” asked a mage in green robes.
“What rumor?” asked Niles.
“Oh, several of the priests of the good deities in town have been having dreams,” answered the pipe-smoking wizard. “Premonitions of some growing menace in the Sword Mountains. Has them in quite a stir.”
“I understand that the priests of evil gods are denying any knowledge of dreams or visions,” said a female sorcerer with short blue hair.
“True. Which means they’re either covering something up, or it involves a power outside their influence.” The wizard took another long draw from his pipe. “Either way, all I know for certain is that there’s been no credible confirmation of these priestly rumors through means of arcane divination.”
“What does that mean, exactly?” asked Myoo.
“Well, my boy,” sniffed the old wizard, “there are several means by which to confound direct divination, either divine or arcane in nature. The fact that we can’t see anything means that either there’s nothing there to see, or there’s something there that someone doesn’t want us to see. These visions may be the gods’ way of indirectly alerting the faithful to a problem.”
“Someone said that it’s all being caused by orc shamans,” interjected a young wizard, obviously just out of apprenticeship.
“Rubbish,” commented the green-robed mage. “Orcs lack the power or organization for such things. Whatever it is, it must be fairly powerful magically to be able to block all attempts to scry them. I suppose we’ll just have to wait until someone goes out there to investigate the matter directly.”
Myoo and Niles looked at each other, and nodded.
* * *
Kiy walked through the streets of Waterdeep, letting his senses guide him. Though the press of people and buildings all around him seemed suffocating, he continued on. It had been decades since he’d last seen Waterdeep, and marveled at how much it had both changed and remained the same. He never could understand the human desire to live packed in as close as possible, closing themselves off from nature. Still, it was good to be out amongst them, to know that much more about the world he lived in.
Kiy felt a slight bump at his hip, and looked over to offer an apology to whomever he had run into. He saw a young child, no more than ten years, who had one hand wrapped around his coin purse and a tiny knife in the other ready to cut the strings.
His hand shot out and grabbed the young thief by the wrist. “This does not belong to you,” he said calmly. Still holding the struggling boy’s wrist, he dug out a silver coin and placed it in his palm. “That you may keep,” he said, and let the boy go, watching as he ran off into the crowd.
A few minutes later, as Kiy looked over a cart of surprisingly fresh-looking apples, he felt another brush against the same hip. Now aware of what that meant, his hand came down again, but closed on empty air. Kiy saw the same young boy again, clutching his coin purse as he turned and bolted for a nearby alley.
“Thief!” Kiy roared, as the bow came off his back. He notched two arrows at once, and let fly just as the boy reached the entrance to the alley. The arrows sliced into the back of the boy’s calves, and he fell with a cry of pain, still clutching the purse. As the street cleared of people, Kiy saw that he’d done no permanent damage, though the boy might have to take up begging for a few weeks instead of purse snatching.
As Kiy began to put his weapon away, he saw a hand reach out from the alley, trying to grab at his purse even as the boy dragged himself into the alley. Kiy rolled his eyes in disbelief; did these cretins never give up? Another arrow went flying, and a moment later Kiy retrieved his purse from the other rogue’s hand, pinned to a nearby rain barrel.
Kiy stepped into the alley to make certain there were no more thieves waiting. The boy had made it about halfway down, still sobbing. Kiy walked up and knelt next to the boy, ready to reprimand him further for his error in judgment. But a noise behind him caused him to pause.
Entering the alley from where she’d come in, four men carrying crossbows blocked off his exit. From the other direction, four more men with blades closed in.
“Ye should’ve left poor Sheldon alone, pointy-ears,” said one of them. “’E’s just trying to make a living, same as all of us.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure the donation of that nice bow o’ yours will help pay for ‘is full recovery,” said another.
Kiy’s eyes narrowed. “Just like a human not to know when to quit,” he said.
Four crossbows were leveled at Kiy as the other four charged in. Assessing the situation, Kiy closed in with the four wielding blades. The confusion of melee would cause some of the crossbow shots to be off their mark, and possibly even wound some of his enemies. He kept a grip on his bow; he’d trained extensively in using his weapon in tight quarters, and was able to avoid the attacks of the rogues as he plugged arrow after arrow into them. After two of his closest foes had fallen, he began to concentrate on the men with crossbows, using his own enemies as cover as he returned fire. Less than a minute later, it was over; all eight thieves were on the ground, dead or severely wounded, while Kiy nursed only a few minor injuries.
The City Watch arrived a few seconds later. After questioning Kiy and a few onlookers, they let Kiy go on his way. There were a few comments about ‘overkill’, which he ignored.
“You’ve helped up out more than you know,” said the Watch sergeant. “This gang was one of the worst of the lot. With them gone, we might be able to make some headway in ending this thieves’ war.”
Kiy nodded as the sergeant tipped his helmet and moved away to control the crowds. Before leaving, he went back and knelt down next to the young boy, whose legs were being wrapped in bandages by a Watch soldier. He dug into the boy’s pocket, and retrieved his silver coin.
“Next time,” he said, holding the coin up to the boy, “Don’t be greedy.”
* * *
The next few days passed uneventfully for the party. A few eyebrows were raised at Kiy’s fresh scratches, but little was said. When it was discovered that several of them had heard similar stories about the Storm Mountains, they agreed it would be worth their time to investigate. The party agreed to leave two days after the festival, choosing to walk rather than use magical transport, in case there was valuable information to be gained along the way.
Greengrass Festival came and went. Alia was brought back to the Wailing Boar late that evening, almost unconscious and smelling of several varieties of alcohol by Tantu, Niles, and Kiy. The next day was spent finishing up personal errands, and they departed the morning of the second. The journey to the mountains took nearly a tenday – unfortunately, they learned little to shed light on what awaited them.
The mountains loomed over the heads of the party. They were bare crags of earth and stone, with an unusually low tree line. The peaks were obscured in strange, black storm clouds. Alia pointed toward a small pass between two peaks.
“I say we start there,” she said. “If something’s up there, they’d be occupying that spot most likely.”
The group traveled the rest of the day, reaching the tree line just before sunset. They camped just inside the woods, as thunder rolled down the mountainside, a grim forewarning of the trials to come.
The next morning dawned clear and crisp. After only a few hours travel, Kiy squinted and pointed at a shape high above them, near the sun. As they all tried to focus, they saw it was growing larger quickly.
“Dragon!” someone shouted, but it was too late to prepare as the beast swooped down, blasting the party with icy cold breath. Alia managed to avoid the dragon’s breath, but felt the cold grip of panic settle into her breast instead. She leapt away from the party, hoping to get away from the creature’s fanged jaws. As she moved, Tantu cursed to himself, shaking frost from his cloak. Once again he was prevented from bringing his god’s wrath to bear.
Ehput-Ki charged into battle, followed by Tantu. Kiy moved around to get a better shot, but his aim was spoiled as Niles conjured a wall of magical force in front of the dragon, hoping to block further breath attacks and cut off a potential charge. The dragon stepped around the translucent barrier and tore into the paladin with fang and claw, buffeting him with sheer power. Staggered but still fighting, Ehput-Ki lashed back, cutting deep into the dragon’s white scales.
Myoo and Niles attempted to bring their magic to bear, but found their spells sliding ineffectually off the wyrm’s back. Myoo, in particular, found his attempts to penetrate the mind of the dragon near useless, and with a snarl resorted to a wand of fireballs. Kiy repositioned himself and began firing arrows into the dragon, placing several good shots. Tantu moved around to help Ehput-Ki, while Alia jumped onto the dragon’s back. She was still unnerved by the wyrm’s power, however, and her blows were wild, often glancing ineffectively off its scales.
Ehput-Ki reeled as a blast from one of Niles’ fireballs singed him slightly, and then was on the defensive again as the dragon pressed its attack. Sorely wounded, the paladin called upon his holy power to heal himself, and was also healed by Tantu. But the dragon sensed an advantage, and kept coming. It used its own arcane power to summon a bank of vapors near the wall of force, riming the ground with ice and preventing anyone from using that route to flank him or retreat. Tantu moved back slightly in an effort to aid Alia, who’d had to jump off the dragon to avoid incoming fireballs and lightning bolts. The wyrm unleashed its full fury on Ehput-Ki, and the party watched, horrified, as he staggered, then fell.
As Alia moved around to the fallen paladin, potion in hand, the dragon whirled on Kiy, who had placed himself dangerously close to the wyrm. Kiy continued to fire arrows as Tantu attempted to call upon Tyr’s wrath again, but like Niles and Myoo found her power could not penetrate the dragon’s mystical defenses. Alia reached Ehput-Ki, and checked for signs of life. Finding no pulse or breath, she stood and moved away, knowing that he was beyond the ability of her healing potion to cure. Suddenly a large shape approached; Ehput-Ki’s warhorse Hebeny placed itself between the dragon and his master’s body, lashing out with razor-sharp hooves heedless of its own peril.
Finally, as the dragon began to rip into Kiy, he loosed a last arrow that caught it in the roof of its mouth, hitting something vital. As the white dragon writhed in agony, a small shape approached, flying out of Myoo’s cloak and hovering a few feet away. A pale beam of energy struck the dragon, and with a thunderous crash, it went down.
As the party slowly gathered, nursing wounds and trying to make sense of what happened, the tiny spherical shape floated back to Myoo. He tucked it away again, a small smile on his face.
“Excellent work, Iggy,” he said.
* * *
The party remained near the site where the dragon had fallen. Kiy spent the day carving at the beast’s hide, and by nightfall had packed away enough scales to build a suit of armor. Tantu tended to the party’s wounds, then laid out Ehput-Ki’s body in preparation for the ritual he would perform in the morning to attempt to return him to life. Myoo and Niles discussed the dragon’s attack – though whites were commonly known to be least intelligent dragon, the beast’s sudden attack, with no attempt to parley or intimidate them, seemed odd.
“Perhaps the dragon is working with whatever mysterious forces lie within these peaks,” suggested Myoo.
“We should seek out its lair,” said Niles. “There may be clues there.”
“True,” said Myoo, “and I’m certain you won’t mind getting a crack at its hoard, either.”
Niles shrugged at the comment, grinning.
Of all the party members, Alia seemed strangely silent. She would occasionally be seen staring oddly at her various companions, particularly Ehput-Ki’s body. No one questioned her odd behavior, too exhausted from the battle.
* * *
The Fugue Plain stretched out beyond forever, a sea of souls awaiting final judgment. Through this mass of the dead, a single figure strode, souls parting to let him pass. The figure appeared as a beautiful elf-like being with feathery wings, wearing a gleaming longsword on its hip. In one hand the being held a long golden trumpet. The being approached one of the countless souls on the Plain, a man of Mulhorandi descent wearing ornate plate armor, with a khopesh sword at his side.
“Ehput-Ki, paladin of Horus-Re,” intoned the being in a voice like a chorus.
Ehput-Ki nodded, then regarded the figure. “You have not been sent by my god to bring me to the afterlife,” he said matter-of-factly.
“No. I am Hazriel, archon in the service of the deity Tyr. His servant, the priest Tantu Nusaibah of Calimshan, has called upon us to return you to the world of the living. Will you accept this calling?”
Ehput-Ki pondered for a moment. “Does this mean that I am denied Paradise?”
“It is not my place to interpret the will of your god, Ehput-Ki. Know that you have a choice; to remain here in the Fugue Plane and await final judgment, or return to the Material Plane to continue your life-path.”
“I will return with you to the land of the living,” said Ehput-Ki after only a brief pause.
“There will be a price,” said Hazriel. “Kelemvor demands a tithe be paid by every soul that returns to the land of the living from the Fugue Plane. Your life-force shall be diminished. Do you still accept?”
“Yes.”
Hazriel nodded. “Then follow me.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
