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The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith
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<blockquote data-quote="Devo" data-source="post: 2886609" data-attributes="member: 32183"><p><strong>The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw, Excerpt 4</strong></p><p></p><p>"...completing the last of the blasphemous inscriptions. I double-checked the diagram [ref: CJ-V3-17] and carefully folded the parchment, making sure the arrows touched on both the top an bottom of the page. As expected, the re-arranged characters aligned to spell out something completely different, and vaguely humorous. Without wasting time, though, I allowed the troll's blood to stream down the paper and into the bowl, careful to let it flow over each of the glowing characters. Before the last bit of blood ebbed from the paper, I spit three times onto the flow, turning widdershins [ref: PJ-V3-12] after each expectoration. As I brought the last ingredient to bear, I hoped desperately that my source was reliable and that the monk who provided it was a holy man. I stirred the urine into the mix. It occurred to me at that point to wonder whether anyone of the DC would drink healing potions if they knew what went into them. Rather than dwell on that thought, however, I made a last-second decision to add the recommended sprig of mint to the mixture [ref: CJ-V3-15] and completed the potion."</p><p></p><p>. -- An excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"I complained the entire way home about how difficult it was to find the perfect vest for my needs, but the sky coach driver didn't show the least bit of sympathy. I tipped her, but not well.</p><p></p><p>Since I was already running late, I only paused at the house long enough to change clothes, enjoy glass of wine, and have Jaiya give me a quick trim. (Not that any of the DC commented on my haircut.) Then I was away. It took a little longer than expected to get over to the Broken Anvil, but then it always does. I should really expect that by now. CA and IR were already there, and since we were supposed to get together for dinner to discuss the events at the University last night [ref: PJ-V2-99], I launched right into my tale. There were over two dozen people of import at the event, but all CA wanted to talk about was the gnoll attack. Honestly, I wonder why he even went.</p><p></p><p>XL finally joined us at the table, only to blurt out some story of how he and GR and some other person had tried to infiltrate a fanatical cult down in the cogs, but that GR and Yithrak -- the man who took them down there -- had been captured. I've seen what cults can do down in the cogs [ref: PJ-V1-17] and I was impressed that XL got away. In fact, I was about to tell him so when another stranger -- some half-naked northlander wearing a rather uncomfortable looking chain skirt -- came up to the table. XL tried to take my wine. </p><p></p><p>The newcomer -- Daimhin by name -- told us that he'd overheard XL's story. It turns out Yithrak is a business companion of his, and he'd been hired to scout out another way into the cultists stronghold. He told us then of a chasm that goes from the lower cogs down to where the cultists meet. He offered to join us, too, if we would help him recover his friend. It would have been nice of him to offer a reward or something, but since GR was down there, too, we took him up on his offer. XL had the presence of mind, when fleeing the cultists, of grabbing a number of robes and amulets so that we could disguise ourselves.</p><p></p><p>We were there for a nice dinner -- well, as nice a dinner as one can have at the Broken Anvil -- not an exploration into the depths of Sharn. Nobody was really ready for this, but we had to go, didn't we? We picked up to leave. Naturally, I had to pay for dinner. </p><p></p><p>Earlier in the evening, I had been talking to someone that I thought was XL. I looked around, but couldn't find her. I probably should have said something at the time, but there was a lot of excitement and everybody was ready to go, so I didn't. Maybe if I tell XL that I'm giving him a magical bell of protection, he'll wear it. </p><p></p><p>It took a fair amount of time to get down to Khyber's Gate, where the cult met. We came at it from above, and I could tell immediately from the architecture and other clues that there was a chance that this "temple" use to be, in fact, the ancient meeting hall of the Order of the Closed Circle. The guild hall of the Order was lost years and years ago when the church of the Silver Flame came and "purified" them. Something about consorting with the evils of the Dragon Below, and experimenting on abominations. I don't remember much about them, but they never struck me as the particularly "evil" sort. Ah, well. The Silver Flame is always crusading against someone. Maybe they had simply run out of real enemies to pick on When we were close to our destination (though, to be honest, I hadn't been able to differentiate one place from another for the last half hour) I placed a prolonged enchantment of slaying [ref: CJ-V1-21] on my cane. Keeping it at a distance (I had set the enchantment to kill all humans) I placed another on top of it to knock my enemies unconscious, rather than kill them outright. Those cultists didn't stand a chance! Well, they wouldn't have, had we actually faced any. Why do so many of my preparations go to waste? Coming down the chasm, we came out on the roof of the temple. Strange to think of an underground structure as having a roof. Regardless, We were in a large, round chamber, it's roof supported by a circle of pillars that surrounded a hole leading down. There were only a few torches, and I was having a devil of a time seeing anything. DA charged silently out of the darkness, whispering harshly that there were guards up ahead. Lucky thing I was busy dusting the dirt off of my clothes when he crept up on us like that, or I would have walloped him a good one with my cane. </p><p></p><p>While I'm thinking about it: Reminder to self -- get a new cane! One that holds enchantments better.... Stupid cane.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, DA waved in the general direction of the guards -- beyond the light, naturally -- and we started to creep forward. No, not forward. I moved silently forward, the rest of the DC and DA scattered, slinking off gods knows where.</p><p></p><p>The wizards of the Closed Circle hired some very cunning architects to build their guild hall. I moved forward to get behind a pillar, but what looked like a crude carving into the stone column was, in fact, an ingeniously shaped shelf designed to disappear from view when looked at from a certain angle. Unfortunately, it was built to disappear from sight when it was seen from my angle, and I bumped into it. Imagine my surprise: I was sneaking up on distant enemy when a goblin-shaped shadow came suddenly around the column. It turned out to be nothing more than a vase on the shelf, but I didn't realize it in time. If it had been a goblin, it would been killed, because I batted at it mercilessly with my cane. As it turns out, though, it was merely a vase on the shelf, which shattered quite loudly in the otherwise still hall.</p><p></p><p>I have always been quick of wit, though, and used the sudden noise as a way of distracting the guards, who were about to engage with DA. CA, with his elven eyes, had been sniping at the guards using his bow. IR seemed lost somewhere in the dark.</p><p></p><p>I grabbed a torch off of the column and moved towards the guards, hoping to find them in the darkness. A cultist rushed out of a side door at me, and I was about to give her a good drumming when she revealed herself as XL. Lucky for her I have such good reflexes. She was trying to trick the guards into thinking that she belonged there so that she could get closer. I wish she'd let us know of these plans before running off on her own. </p><p></p><p>Off in the darkness, the fight was on. XL rushed off in that direction. Rather than charge in blindly myself, though, I threw the torch towards the noise, hoping to finally catch sight of the guards. Not surprisingly, XL was in the wrong place at the wrong time and she barely managed to avoid my well thrown torch. It landed at her feet, nearly catching her robe on fire. She gave me the oddest look. I rushed in to find DA and GR engaged with what looked like four goblins. They were weird little creatures, though. There were only two of them, but each looked like two goblins smashed together. Freakish. CA came in right behind me, and IR had cleverly snuck around to flank them. IR chanted, and a skeleton appeared, and began to attack the goblinoids. </p><p></p><p>I don't remember how much damage I unleashed upon the goblin-creatures. The fight was over just that fast.</p><p></p><p>We listened for a moment, and couldn't hear any sign of alarm. The noise we'd been hearing the whole time was still going: a droning chant of some sort. While XL and GR tried to hide the bodies, I explored the room. The hole in the center of the chamber led straight down -- far down. We were on the flattened roof of a dome, which extended below us. Built into the dome were two more levels, each open in the center just like this room. The hole expanded as it went down, though, and each floor going down had a wider and wider opening in it's center. At the very bottom was the temple itself. It was packed with chanting cultists and priests, all gathered around a central shaft -- the same shaft I was standing at the top of -- which continued through the floor and into darkness. Thanks to my excellent eyesight, I could see a grate at the very bottom, some two hundred or so feet below me. The cultists were all wearing similar brown robes, and we couldn't tell one from the other. </p><p></p><p>It was obvious, though, that their ritual was coming to a head. We had to hurry.</p><p></p><p>We made it two levels down before we saw any guards again. Human guards, this time. They were a quarter way around the large opening in the floor, watching the proceedings down below, and never saw us. We got a quick peek of what was going on, and it was trouble! GR and YI stood at the edge of the pit below us, standing between two priests. They seemed rather passive. The high priestess was there, going on and on about how these two sacrifices would be pleasing to the Dragon Below. They were about to sacrifice GR and YI to whatever was in that pit! </p><p></p><p>This is as good a time as any to mention the incense. In the large chamber below were a number of braziers, used not only for light and heat, but for the burning of a very strange incense. I had noticed the odd fumes earlier, of course. Years of training in alchemy had tuned my senses to the point where I could determine immediately that there was something wrong in the air. I theorized that the toxic fumes from the braziers had enraptured GR and YI, breaking their will completely and making them very susceptible to the wiles of the cult's chanting. It's a shame they didn't have my training. If they had, they wouldn't have succumbed to the fumes. </p><p></p><p>I was just working all of that out, and thinking about how pleased the Dragon Below would be at the cult's sacrifices, when we raced away to launch our rescue attempt. IR, with her quick elven reflexes, was the first to spring back towards the stairs. In her zeal to get moving, she slapped me rather hard and was dragging me away from the edge. I took a quick moment to clear my eyes of the smoke, but told her that I was right behind her. We ran. XL told us that he had a plan, and that he would distract the ceremony long enough for us to get GR. In an instant, I had my own plan, and we raced back up to the third level.</p><p></p><p>The drop from the third level to ground level was about forty feet. What's more, the hole at this level was about forty feet wider than the hole on the ground floor. We had one length of rope with us. I did some quick calculations: that rope would be just enough to reach from the edge here to the edge of the pit in the main chamber where GR stood. The problem we had was that there was no railing around the hole, nor anything to tie the rope to. DA volunteered to anchor the rope, and began to climb down so he could hang off of the edge of the pit. That would give us even more room to work. </p><p></p><p>XL had begun her "distraction" from the level below us, taking on the guise of the head priestess and decrying her an infiltrator. No one was buying it. In fact, the head priestess responded to XL's announcement by throwing YI into the pit!</p><p></p><p>I tried to infuse a spell into the rope [ref: CJ-V1-29], but the accursed thing wouldn't hold. I was trying to animate the rope but it was resisting me. Obviously, it was of shoddy craftsmanship. We had run out of time, though. With an exultant cry, the head priestess grabbed GR and threw him over the edge of the pit. I swear he hovered in mid air for moment. </p><p></p><p>DA, hanging upside down over the edge of the pit and holding the coil of rope in one hand, must have succumbed to the intoxication of the vapors coming up from below. With a bellow (his face actually turned a deep purplish red), he threw one end of the rope towards CA, and dove after GR. He literally launched himself off of the side of the wall down towards the pit. Forty feet down, he rebounded off of three cultists, and towards the hole. Surprised, I looked to CA. He stood at the edge of the hole, his eyes following the plunging descent of an enraged, two hundred and fifty pound man. Then his eyes went to the rope in his hand, and followed it's length all the way down to where it wrapped around DA's wrist. CA shrugged, slightly, and casually tossed the end of the rope over the side. It literally snapped in midair as it suddenly shot downwards, following it's anchor. In a split second, it was gone. DA was gone, but we had troubles of our own. Thanks to XL's distraction, the cultists knew where we were. The head priestess ordered our capture.</p><p></p><p>Thinking quick, I yelled "Let's get out of here," and we ran to the staircase, heading up. If we could just get to the chasm above us that we had used to climb down here, then we might get away. I met XL in the stairwell as we pounded our way up the stairs. CA hung back, to protect us.</p><p></p><p>Never let it be said that a Heuw will leave one of his own behind, though. We got up to the roof with cultists, priests, and guards right behind us. Instead of running over to the rope that hung from the chasm above, I ran over to the hole to look down. I was looking for some sign of GR. IR followed, and dropped a lit sunrod. I tried to tell her that dropping a sunrod two hundred feet onto someone's head would likely kill them, but didn't think she'd hear me over the shouts and curses of the pursuing cultists. CA hung back at the head of the stair, ready to buy us whatever time we needed. </p><p></p><p>IR and I watched the sunrod fall down; past the two levels below us, past the priestess, still standing at the edge of the pit, and into the darkness beyond. It was too far away for me to properly see where it landed, but IR, with her keen elven eyes, said that someone -- probably DA -- had picked the sunrod up and was waiving it in the air. GR and YI were standing next to him, mindless of their perilous situation. </p><p></p><p>They were still alive, and I knew it was up to me to save them.</p><p></p><p>Quickly, I shouted to CA to hold back our pursuers. He, IR, and XL did what they could. I chanted, very precisely, the words that would instill into my cane a spell that would allow us to float gently to the bottom of the shaft [ref: CJ-V1-7]. My accursed cane wouldn't take the magic, though, and the infusion failed. That wasn't good. </p><p></p><p>CA had already dropped one guard, and proved to be a very effective barrier against anyone from coming up the stair. From the other stairwell came one of the lead priests. I had the opportunity to see him as XL and IR fought to keep him at bay, and regretted the distraction. He was a monstrous man-like creature, with tentacles growing out of his shoulders or back. IR had summoned a small zombie to slow it down. As I looked, the tall creature simply punched through the undead with one of it's tentacles, and appeared to be shredding to pieces from the inside. </p><p></p><p>I realized then the danger we were in. I had time for one more infusion, then we would be over-run. Unfortunately, I gauged the power of the magic I could create, and realized that I would only be able to stop the descent of three of us. Would I allow CA to sacrifice himself honorably? Did the world really need another changeling? </p><p></p><p>With every ounce of focus I could come up with, I prepared my final infusion. Instead of placing it in my cane -- which had betrayed me on so many occasions -- I put the infusion into my longcoat. I was wearing the charcoal grey coat that Twiggy got for me last year [ref: PJ-V1-67]. Success! Turning, I shouted to CA, "We're leaving. Now! Go for the hole!" </p><p></p><p>The last word was barely out of my mouth when he abandoned his position and raced past me, diving headlong down the hole. For the briefest moment, I thought about how funny it would be if we decided to climb out, instead. I didn't think CA would appreciate the joke, though. IR either, for that matter.</p><p></p><p>Rather than take the time to turn and dive gracefully through the hole, I simply threw myself backward, grabbing for IR and XL. XL, naturally, took that opportunity to enact his own plans, and dodged to the right one step. I had IR, but had missed XL. I felt really bad about that for some reason. </p><p></p><p>Luckily, I was barely over the edge when XL turned and dove after us. I wrapped myself around IR and triggered the slow fall enchantment, targeting CA down below me, XL up above me, and IR. I clung to her for dear life.</p><p></p><p>I don't want to say that our descent was slow and controlled, but it was rather exhilarating, like flying downward. We fell gracefully down past the floor of the temple, past the smiling head priestess, and into the darkness beyond.</p><p></p><p>Things became far less exhilarating when my enchantment ended. We were floating down through the darkened shaft when the spell simply ended, and we started to plummet. Plummet. There's something I don't ever want to do again. XL and IR both screamed. I don't think I even had time to react. Then, suddenly, we were floating again, out of the shaft and into a large, poorly lit room. GR, YI, and DA were all standing there. Just the way they were a moment ago. Unhurt. When we saw them from so far above. </p><p></p><p>I should have realized it earlier. Obviously, there would be a feather fall zone at the bottom of a shaft like that. This place was built by wizards, after all.</p><p></p><p>Somewhere above us, the grate crashed closed."</p><p></p><p>. -- An excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>. -- Sharn longcoat (midnight blue) -- glamourweave</p><p>. -- Wroat Longstriders (boots) -- size 9, dark blue</p><p>. -- Mortar and pestle set -- adamantine, 2#</p><p>. -- 'The Purpose of the Forge' by Merrix d'Cannith</p><p>. -- Sourshards, or anything with dark chocolate from Millatan's Sweet Shoppe</p><p>. -- A new skyboat, red</p><p>. -- An excerpt from the List of Acceptable Gifts for Artemis Heuw, Festival of Thronehold, 998YK</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Devo, post: 2886609, member: 32183"] [b]The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw, Excerpt 4[/b] "...completing the last of the blasphemous inscriptions. I double-checked the diagram [ref: CJ-V3-17] and carefully folded the parchment, making sure the arrows touched on both the top an bottom of the page. As expected, the re-arranged characters aligned to spell out something completely different, and vaguely humorous. Without wasting time, though, I allowed the troll's blood to stream down the paper and into the bowl, careful to let it flow over each of the glowing characters. Before the last bit of blood ebbed from the paper, I spit three times onto the flow, turning widdershins [ref: PJ-V3-12] after each expectoration. As I brought the last ingredient to bear, I hoped desperately that my source was reliable and that the monk who provided it was a holy man. I stirred the urine into the mix. It occurred to me at that point to wonder whether anyone of the DC would drink healing potions if they knew what went into them. Rather than dwell on that thought, however, I made a last-second decision to add the recommended sprig of mint to the mixture [ref: CJ-V3-15] and completed the potion." . -- An excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3 "I complained the entire way home about how difficult it was to find the perfect vest for my needs, but the sky coach driver didn't show the least bit of sympathy. I tipped her, but not well. Since I was already running late, I only paused at the house long enough to change clothes, enjoy glass of wine, and have Jaiya give me a quick trim. (Not that any of the DC commented on my haircut.) Then I was away. It took a little longer than expected to get over to the Broken Anvil, but then it always does. I should really expect that by now. CA and IR were already there, and since we were supposed to get together for dinner to discuss the events at the University last night [ref: PJ-V2-99], I launched right into my tale. There were over two dozen people of import at the event, but all CA wanted to talk about was the gnoll attack. Honestly, I wonder why he even went. XL finally joined us at the table, only to blurt out some story of how he and GR and some other person had tried to infiltrate a fanatical cult down in the cogs, but that GR and Yithrak -- the man who took them down there -- had been captured. I've seen what cults can do down in the cogs [ref: PJ-V1-17] and I was impressed that XL got away. In fact, I was about to tell him so when another stranger -- some half-naked northlander wearing a rather uncomfortable looking chain skirt -- came up to the table. XL tried to take my wine. The newcomer -- Daimhin by name -- told us that he'd overheard XL's story. It turns out Yithrak is a business companion of his, and he'd been hired to scout out another way into the cultists stronghold. He told us then of a chasm that goes from the lower cogs down to where the cultists meet. He offered to join us, too, if we would help him recover his friend. It would have been nice of him to offer a reward or something, but since GR was down there, too, we took him up on his offer. XL had the presence of mind, when fleeing the cultists, of grabbing a number of robes and amulets so that we could disguise ourselves. We were there for a nice dinner -- well, as nice a dinner as one can have at the Broken Anvil -- not an exploration into the depths of Sharn. Nobody was really ready for this, but we had to go, didn't we? We picked up to leave. Naturally, I had to pay for dinner. Earlier in the evening, I had been talking to someone that I thought was XL. I looked around, but couldn't find her. I probably should have said something at the time, but there was a lot of excitement and everybody was ready to go, so I didn't. Maybe if I tell XL that I'm giving him a magical bell of protection, he'll wear it. It took a fair amount of time to get down to Khyber's Gate, where the cult met. We came at it from above, and I could tell immediately from the architecture and other clues that there was a chance that this "temple" use to be, in fact, the ancient meeting hall of the Order of the Closed Circle. The guild hall of the Order was lost years and years ago when the church of the Silver Flame came and "purified" them. Something about consorting with the evils of the Dragon Below, and experimenting on abominations. I don't remember much about them, but they never struck me as the particularly "evil" sort. Ah, well. The Silver Flame is always crusading against someone. Maybe they had simply run out of real enemies to pick on When we were close to our destination (though, to be honest, I hadn't been able to differentiate one place from another for the last half hour) I placed a prolonged enchantment of slaying [ref: CJ-V1-21] on my cane. Keeping it at a distance (I had set the enchantment to kill all humans) I placed another on top of it to knock my enemies unconscious, rather than kill them outright. Those cultists didn't stand a chance! Well, they wouldn't have, had we actually faced any. Why do so many of my preparations go to waste? Coming down the chasm, we came out on the roof of the temple. Strange to think of an underground structure as having a roof. Regardless, We were in a large, round chamber, it's roof supported by a circle of pillars that surrounded a hole leading down. There were only a few torches, and I was having a devil of a time seeing anything. DA charged silently out of the darkness, whispering harshly that there were guards up ahead. Lucky thing I was busy dusting the dirt off of my clothes when he crept up on us like that, or I would have walloped him a good one with my cane. While I'm thinking about it: Reminder to self -- get a new cane! One that holds enchantments better.... Stupid cane. Anyway, DA waved in the general direction of the guards -- beyond the light, naturally -- and we started to creep forward. No, not forward. I moved silently forward, the rest of the DC and DA scattered, slinking off gods knows where. The wizards of the Closed Circle hired some very cunning architects to build their guild hall. I moved forward to get behind a pillar, but what looked like a crude carving into the stone column was, in fact, an ingeniously shaped shelf designed to disappear from view when looked at from a certain angle. Unfortunately, it was built to disappear from sight when it was seen from my angle, and I bumped into it. Imagine my surprise: I was sneaking up on distant enemy when a goblin-shaped shadow came suddenly around the column. It turned out to be nothing more than a vase on the shelf, but I didn't realize it in time. If it had been a goblin, it would been killed, because I batted at it mercilessly with my cane. As it turns out, though, it was merely a vase on the shelf, which shattered quite loudly in the otherwise still hall. I have always been quick of wit, though, and used the sudden noise as a way of distracting the guards, who were about to engage with DA. CA, with his elven eyes, had been sniping at the guards using his bow. IR seemed lost somewhere in the dark. I grabbed a torch off of the column and moved towards the guards, hoping to find them in the darkness. A cultist rushed out of a side door at me, and I was about to give her a good drumming when she revealed herself as XL. Lucky for her I have such good reflexes. She was trying to trick the guards into thinking that she belonged there so that she could get closer. I wish she'd let us know of these plans before running off on her own. Off in the darkness, the fight was on. XL rushed off in that direction. Rather than charge in blindly myself, though, I threw the torch towards the noise, hoping to finally catch sight of the guards. Not surprisingly, XL was in the wrong place at the wrong time and she barely managed to avoid my well thrown torch. It landed at her feet, nearly catching her robe on fire. She gave me the oddest look. I rushed in to find DA and GR engaged with what looked like four goblins. They were weird little creatures, though. There were only two of them, but each looked like two goblins smashed together. Freakish. CA came in right behind me, and IR had cleverly snuck around to flank them. IR chanted, and a skeleton appeared, and began to attack the goblinoids. I don't remember how much damage I unleashed upon the goblin-creatures. The fight was over just that fast. We listened for a moment, and couldn't hear any sign of alarm. The noise we'd been hearing the whole time was still going: a droning chant of some sort. While XL and GR tried to hide the bodies, I explored the room. The hole in the center of the chamber led straight down -- far down. We were on the flattened roof of a dome, which extended below us. Built into the dome were two more levels, each open in the center just like this room. The hole expanded as it went down, though, and each floor going down had a wider and wider opening in it's center. At the very bottom was the temple itself. It was packed with chanting cultists and priests, all gathered around a central shaft -- the same shaft I was standing at the top of -- which continued through the floor and into darkness. Thanks to my excellent eyesight, I could see a grate at the very bottom, some two hundred or so feet below me. The cultists were all wearing similar brown robes, and we couldn't tell one from the other. It was obvious, though, that their ritual was coming to a head. We had to hurry. We made it two levels down before we saw any guards again. Human guards, this time. They were a quarter way around the large opening in the floor, watching the proceedings down below, and never saw us. We got a quick peek of what was going on, and it was trouble! GR and YI stood at the edge of the pit below us, standing between two priests. They seemed rather passive. The high priestess was there, going on and on about how these two sacrifices would be pleasing to the Dragon Below. They were about to sacrifice GR and YI to whatever was in that pit! This is as good a time as any to mention the incense. In the large chamber below were a number of braziers, used not only for light and heat, but for the burning of a very strange incense. I had noticed the odd fumes earlier, of course. Years of training in alchemy had tuned my senses to the point where I could determine immediately that there was something wrong in the air. I theorized that the toxic fumes from the braziers had enraptured GR and YI, breaking their will completely and making them very susceptible to the wiles of the cult's chanting. It's a shame they didn't have my training. If they had, they wouldn't have succumbed to the fumes. I was just working all of that out, and thinking about how pleased the Dragon Below would be at the cult's sacrifices, when we raced away to launch our rescue attempt. IR, with her quick elven reflexes, was the first to spring back towards the stairs. In her zeal to get moving, she slapped me rather hard and was dragging me away from the edge. I took a quick moment to clear my eyes of the smoke, but told her that I was right behind her. We ran. XL told us that he had a plan, and that he would distract the ceremony long enough for us to get GR. In an instant, I had my own plan, and we raced back up to the third level. The drop from the third level to ground level was about forty feet. What's more, the hole at this level was about forty feet wider than the hole on the ground floor. We had one length of rope with us. I did some quick calculations: that rope would be just enough to reach from the edge here to the edge of the pit in the main chamber where GR stood. The problem we had was that there was no railing around the hole, nor anything to tie the rope to. DA volunteered to anchor the rope, and began to climb down so he could hang off of the edge of the pit. That would give us even more room to work. XL had begun her "distraction" from the level below us, taking on the guise of the head priestess and decrying her an infiltrator. No one was buying it. In fact, the head priestess responded to XL's announcement by throwing YI into the pit! I tried to infuse a spell into the rope [ref: CJ-V1-29], but the accursed thing wouldn't hold. I was trying to animate the rope but it was resisting me. Obviously, it was of shoddy craftsmanship. We had run out of time, though. With an exultant cry, the head priestess grabbed GR and threw him over the edge of the pit. I swear he hovered in mid air for moment. DA, hanging upside down over the edge of the pit and holding the coil of rope in one hand, must have succumbed to the intoxication of the vapors coming up from below. With a bellow (his face actually turned a deep purplish red), he threw one end of the rope towards CA, and dove after GR. He literally launched himself off of the side of the wall down towards the pit. Forty feet down, he rebounded off of three cultists, and towards the hole. Surprised, I looked to CA. He stood at the edge of the hole, his eyes following the plunging descent of an enraged, two hundred and fifty pound man. Then his eyes went to the rope in his hand, and followed it's length all the way down to where it wrapped around DA's wrist. CA shrugged, slightly, and casually tossed the end of the rope over the side. It literally snapped in midair as it suddenly shot downwards, following it's anchor. In a split second, it was gone. DA was gone, but we had troubles of our own. Thanks to XL's distraction, the cultists knew where we were. The head priestess ordered our capture. Thinking quick, I yelled "Let's get out of here," and we ran to the staircase, heading up. If we could just get to the chasm above us that we had used to climb down here, then we might get away. I met XL in the stairwell as we pounded our way up the stairs. CA hung back, to protect us. Never let it be said that a Heuw will leave one of his own behind, though. We got up to the roof with cultists, priests, and guards right behind us. Instead of running over to the rope that hung from the chasm above, I ran over to the hole to look down. I was looking for some sign of GR. IR followed, and dropped a lit sunrod. I tried to tell her that dropping a sunrod two hundred feet onto someone's head would likely kill them, but didn't think she'd hear me over the shouts and curses of the pursuing cultists. CA hung back at the head of the stair, ready to buy us whatever time we needed. IR and I watched the sunrod fall down; past the two levels below us, past the priestess, still standing at the edge of the pit, and into the darkness beyond. It was too far away for me to properly see where it landed, but IR, with her keen elven eyes, said that someone -- probably DA -- had picked the sunrod up and was waiving it in the air. GR and YI were standing next to him, mindless of their perilous situation. They were still alive, and I knew it was up to me to save them. Quickly, I shouted to CA to hold back our pursuers. He, IR, and XL did what they could. I chanted, very precisely, the words that would instill into my cane a spell that would allow us to float gently to the bottom of the shaft [ref: CJ-V1-7]. My accursed cane wouldn't take the magic, though, and the infusion failed. That wasn't good. CA had already dropped one guard, and proved to be a very effective barrier against anyone from coming up the stair. From the other stairwell came one of the lead priests. I had the opportunity to see him as XL and IR fought to keep him at bay, and regretted the distraction. He was a monstrous man-like creature, with tentacles growing out of his shoulders or back. IR had summoned a small zombie to slow it down. As I looked, the tall creature simply punched through the undead with one of it's tentacles, and appeared to be shredding to pieces from the inside. I realized then the danger we were in. I had time for one more infusion, then we would be over-run. Unfortunately, I gauged the power of the magic I could create, and realized that I would only be able to stop the descent of three of us. Would I allow CA to sacrifice himself honorably? Did the world really need another changeling? With every ounce of focus I could come up with, I prepared my final infusion. Instead of placing it in my cane -- which had betrayed me on so many occasions -- I put the infusion into my longcoat. I was wearing the charcoal grey coat that Twiggy got for me last year [ref: PJ-V1-67]. Success! Turning, I shouted to CA, "We're leaving. Now! Go for the hole!" The last word was barely out of my mouth when he abandoned his position and raced past me, diving headlong down the hole. For the briefest moment, I thought about how funny it would be if we decided to climb out, instead. I didn't think CA would appreciate the joke, though. IR either, for that matter. Rather than take the time to turn and dive gracefully through the hole, I simply threw myself backward, grabbing for IR and XL. XL, naturally, took that opportunity to enact his own plans, and dodged to the right one step. I had IR, but had missed XL. I felt really bad about that for some reason. Luckily, I was barely over the edge when XL turned and dove after us. I wrapped myself around IR and triggered the slow fall enchantment, targeting CA down below me, XL up above me, and IR. I clung to her for dear life. I don't want to say that our descent was slow and controlled, but it was rather exhilarating, like flying downward. We fell gracefully down past the floor of the temple, past the smiling head priestess, and into the darkness beyond. Things became far less exhilarating when my enchantment ended. We were floating down through the darkened shaft when the spell simply ended, and we started to plummet. Plummet. There's something I don't ever want to do again. XL and IR both screamed. I don't think I even had time to react. Then, suddenly, we were floating again, out of the shaft and into a large, poorly lit room. GR, YI, and DA were all standing there. Just the way they were a moment ago. Unhurt. When we saw them from so far above. I should have realized it earlier. Obviously, there would be a feather fall zone at the bottom of a shaft like that. This place was built by wizards, after all. Somewhere above us, the grate crashed closed." . -- An excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw, Volume 3 . -- Sharn longcoat (midnight blue) -- glamourweave . -- Wroat Longstriders (boots) -- size 9, dark blue . -- Mortar and pestle set -- adamantine, 2# . -- 'The Purpose of the Forge' by Merrix d'Cannith . -- Sourshards, or anything with dark chocolate from Millatan's Sweet Shoppe . -- A new skyboat, red . -- An excerpt from the List of Acceptable Gifts for Artemis Heuw, Festival of Thronehold, 998YK [/QUOTE]
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