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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lars Frehse" data-source="post: 982658" data-attributes="member: 1674">Out of the fryinp pan- part 1When they had calmed down, there was only one way left to explore, and that was the shaft that lead down. Swallowing his apprehension, Torn went first, using the many branches as foot- and handholds. As he climbed down the small shaft, he heard a humming and chanting from below. The chanting rose in volume, and after a while, he could make out the flickering light and shadows of large fires shining into the shaft.Upon reaching the ground, he turned around and found himself in a gigantic chamber, which was over one hundred feet in diameter wide. On the far wall, there was a huge construct made of wicker. It was shaped like a giant and apparently, it was hollow and from the way it looked, it was filled with prisoners. Here and there, Torn could make out a human face or limb.Two dozen cultists were gathered around the wicker man, performing some cruel ritual that would undoubtedly climax in setting the wicker man on fire- thus turning all within into a sacrifice for their mistress Mormo. Fortunately for Torn, all of the cultist's eyes were turned towards the wicker man and away from him.He signalled Jan, who was above him and in the process of coming down. After a silent exchange, Jan went back up and Torn followed him. Up in the torture chamber, he told his friends what he had seen, finishing: "There were too many of the cultists. Even with surprise on our side, I doubt that we could win a fight against all of them. Maybe we should check out the corridor Ben had examined again. I just can't believe that the cultists would hide a corridor that leads nowhere...""But Piridur could be one of the victims", Niklas said."We don't need Piridur anymore", Torn answered and after padding on his bag of holding, he added:" We already have the ritual."Niklas wasn't ready to let the matter drop: "Maybe Trepat could at least use his lightning to end the suffering of the ones caught in the wicker man, then.""And in return, we will be dead as well. Great.“ Ben answered and then everyone was talking at once. Niklas and Jan argued in favor of attacking the druids and the others didn't want to endanger their lives and their mission, since for them, the only advantage they had was that the cultists were busy. Once they would have to fight the cultists, they would fail...In the end, Niklas and Jan agreed to go along with the rest of the group. They hacked their way through the wall of brambles and then went down that corridor. They looked at the part of the corridor below where it had collapsed, when Trepat noticed that there was something strange about the wall at the corner where it took a turn to the right.The wall looked unnaturally smooth here, and when he touched it, he noticed that it seemed to be made of wood. He called for Torn who looked at it with his magical instruments, figuring out that this was really a magical door. After a little while, he had opened it, paving the way to a vaguely oval-shaped chamber.The whole room was empty, except for one item. In the middle of the room, lying on the wooden floor, which was made mostly of roots and thorns, seemingly unguarded, was the serpent amphora, resting easily in an open chest.Carefully, and still not entering the room, Torn looked around for telltale signs of traps, but there was nothing suspicious to be seen. Of course the fact that this artifact was simply laying around was suspicious in itself. But then again, the ritual had been similarly lying around. Maybe the cultists considered their citadel and the Hornsaw to offer sufficient protection for the artefact.But all that didn't really matter. After all, they had little choice, and so Torn entered the room, intent on picking up the amphora. The moment he stepped inside, however, the small cavern changed. Within an instant, the chest had sunk into the floor and its place a giant maw filled with razor sharp branches and long thorns manifested itself.The tendrils lashed at Torn, injuring him, as he scrambled backwards over the now living ground. The maw tried to swallow him, but he rolled out of the maw's reach just in time. Standing on his feet again, he used his chain to slash at everything in the room that seemed to live now. In the background, Jan saw that this room seemed to be a nexus of the evil essence that was present everywhere in the citadel.They attacked the tendrils and the maw with all they had, but the plants showed a surprising power of regeneration, quickly healing the wounds that the friends struck. The Nexus itself fought like a force of nature, attacking everyone in the room.After a while, Torn had to retreat since he was badly wounded and feared that the next hit could be his end, and after that Jan followed. As Ben and Jan healed the two, only Niklas was left in the room and Trepat shot lightning bolts into the maw from the entrance.As Jan and Torn charged back into the living room, Ben aided with magical stones. A lot of the plant mass had been chopped away by now, and there were bits of roots and earth everywhere. Then, as Torn hit it viciously into the center, the central maw yawned wide and the room shuddered in it's death throes. A moment later, it spit out the amphora, which Niklas caught in mid-flight.They were sure that the cultists would soon come upon them and so they all ran to the exit. Just then, they heard a loud roaring and smashing noise through the wall. They were on the same level as the wicker man, and as the Nexus was destroyed, the cultists had lost their grip on the ritual. The wicker man, in return was running amok now, fuelled by the dying spirit of Piridur within who used this fiery construct as a means to defy his enemies and help his friends.Upstairs, Trepat took Torn, and instead of running straight for the entrance, they turned right and tumbled the large table over the shaft that lead down to where the cultists where now fighting the out-of-control wicker man. Then they threw all items that seemed heavy enough on a hastily built pile, which further pressed down the makeshift barrier.Ben had changed into his spiderform and together with Niklas, he ran for the exit. Just as they reached the dangling roots in front of the exit, those roots grabbed for them. Both dodged the suddenly agile plants, but one root wrapped itself around Jan's neck, as the paladin came after them.Immediately, the roots pulled him up, letting him dangle like a poor soul on the gallows.</blockquote>

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