SESSION 53
3rd of Suns’ebb
RETURN TO THE SUNLESS CITADEL
The doorbell rang, once more early in the morning. Kizzlorn shuffled to the door and peeked out at who was standing at the drawbridge. There was Nurn, the cowled man who’d directed them to the Cathezar and left without a trace. She said “Nun. What can we do for you?”
“The name is Nurn… and may I come in?”
She let him in, and gathered the others. They approached Nurn cautiously. He had helped them to recover Oaken, but his shadowy motives were unknown to them. Who was Nurn, and what did he want? Knowing he was the agent of someone named “Hethradiah” didn’t seem to sate the Knights’ curiosity.
“I’m here,” he began, “Because we’re in greater trouble than I’d thought. As I’m sure you’re aware, your friend Jamison Crow has turned against us.”
Kizzlorn scoffed. “What?? That’s ridiculous. Jamison Crow is dead.”
“He’s pretty spry for a dead man. He assaulted several of my associates, killed them, and made off with something that we were planning to use against Aameul.”
Vek leaned forward. “Barring the fact that Jamison is dead and could not have done this, what was stolen?”
Nurn shifted uncomfortably. “We had a piece of the Soul Totem, which grants…”
“We know what the Totem does,” Vek said, his eyes glowing as two red sparks within his skull mask sockets. “You had a piece, eh?”
“Yes. Jamison took it. Now, he has it, and can travel to the Bastion, if he wishes. This is where the demon wyrm Ashardalon is currently-”
“We know about that, too. In fact, we seem to be ahead of you.” Vek pulled out his piece of the Soul Totem and showed it, briefly, before putting it away.
“You… you have… This is wonderful! With this, we can head off the other piece, if we hurry…”
“You’re forgetting a few things, Nurn. For one, you came to us and gave us scant information, and only because it suited your secret master’s purpose. This Totem piece is ours, and our path is our own. We go on our own quest. If you want to help, that’s fine, but we’ll need to know some things about this Hethradiah.”
Nurn stood up and paced. “Yes, that’s true. If we’re going to work together, I should be honest.” He took a breath and went on. “The balance of Law and Chaos is at risk, and I must admit something you may find upleasant, but you must promise to hear me out, if we are to restore balance. It is true that Aameul is one aspect of Demogorgon- one of his heads. My master, Hethradiah, is the other.”
Dartan and Broldek put their hands on their sword hilts but did not attack. Kizz looked stunned. “You’re an agent of Demogorgon?”
“Of one of his personalities, yes.”
“How dare you come into my house.”
“I was invited. At any rate, Hethradiah understands that the fabric of the multiverse itself will be lessened if Demogorgon becomes essentially one being, not two. This would be true whether Aameul or Hethradiah somehow managed to slay the other. Hethradiah knows that to prune one head of Demogorgon, a great lord of Chaos, will lessen the role of Chaos in the multiverse, and thus seeks to preserve his current status.
“Thus,” he went on, “we can work together to defeat Ashardalon, and see to it that he ceases to feed on life force. Moreover, We will end the beating of his stolen demonic heart, and so it will no longer present Aameul with a way to subvert the natural order of the cosmos.”
“You’re a demon’s lapdog,” Kizzlorn said angrily.
“I hope that, despite our differences, we can temporarily work together for a common cause. You need me, as much as I need you.”
Kizz fell silent. Edge asked “Why do we need you?”
“Because you are not ready to face Ashardalon.”
“We’ve killed an ancient dragon. Its skeleton lies in our yard.”
“Yes… Acessiwal. The white dragon. Do you have any concept of how much more power a red dragon can ascend to? There is really no comparison. Ashardalon is four times as large and a dozen times deadlier than that little lawn gnome you have sitting out front.”
Kizzlorn spoke through a clenched jaw. “That ‘lawn gnome’ was the deadliest thing we ever faced, devil.”
“My condolences, then. Still, if you’re to even give it a shot, we need more than just the descendant of Dydd on our side. We need information.”
Broldek asked “What do you propose?”
“We need to seek out one of the few remaining temples of Ashardalon. Ages ago, he dwelled on this plane, and had many mad followers. They formed dragon cults and secret societies worshiping him. We must find one of these places and search it for information.”
“Where to look?”
“I know where,” Dartan said.
MORE TO COME...
