They walked outside and readied to leave. Vek mounted a sleek black stallion. Jettok mounted a small, knob-kneed pony. They looked at each other, their heads about four feet apart in height.
"My mount's name is Tsunami. What's yours?" Vek asked.
"Stumpy."
Dartan bought a horse for himself, and Menerous opted to walk. It was later wondered whether he walked to prove a point to Vek or not. The Ohanna sisters had one mount- Kyla's warhorse. Vek asked "Would one of you ladies care to ride with me?"
Kyla eyed him warily and said "Nay, we can ride together on this horse. Katya, come." She held out her hand. Katya looked back to Sir Vek and decided that she'd take him up on his offer. She walked over. "You're not actually going to ride with him, are you?" Kyla asked in veiled disgust.
"Why not?" Katya replied smugly.
"You're just being willful, like always." Kyla watched her sister step aboard the immense black warhorse, giggling girlishly. The cleric of Pelor sighed and cinched her reins.
"We ride!" The Knights of the Silver Quill left Verbobonc behind them.
Earthday, 27th of Suns'ebb
Over the three day journey, the effectively new party came to know each other. Jettok was a merry sort who enjoyed drink, jest, and combat- but he was altogether not entirely bright. Kyla was a stern, proud warrior of Pelor with good in her heart and steel in her gaze. She reminded Menerous too much of Angelique. Sir Vek Mormont was quiet. When he spoke, he often spoke with a wry smile, as though he were in on some joke that his listeners weren't aware of. He thoroughly disquieted Kyla and Menerous with the darkness he radiated. Katya was the younger and less mature of the two siblings. It was clear that she had a spiteful problem with Kyla's authority. It's perhaps what drove her to sit next to Vek each night as they ate around the campfire.
They walked over a snow-covered rise, and the majority of the Knights saw the Temple of All-Consumption for the first time. Crows circled around the black tower in a cloud. They could be seen from here.
Walking to the hill, Jettok looked over to see Katya scritching behind Lucky's ears. "Why'd you bring that cat to a dungeon?" he asked.
Katya looked offended. "Well, you brought that pony!"
He laughed. "Darlin', if your cat could get out and carry me, I'd be impressed."
At the entrance to the Mines, they tethered the horses and entered. They silently walked the length of the path to the bridge. Once crossing over the frozen Stalagos, the four new members stared in awe at the solid lake around them, filling a crater, upon which was built a construct of unworldly evil. Dartan and Menerous paid it no mind, as they'd passed this way several times before. They passed through the Outer Fane and came to the hallway with the gargoyle statues. They walked out into the yard.
Like a scene from Hell itself, the interior of the crater was a dry, cracked yard of uneven volcanic rock concealed by snow and draped with fingers of sulfurous mist. A hot, dry stench filled the air, burning the insides of their noses and mouths. At the center of the area, pounded down into a wound in the earth like a spike pounded into flesh, stood the black tower glistening with the dull sheen of iron. The ground seemed to recoil from the touch of the strange structure, so it was surrounded by the gaping trench of this wound, its black walls plunging downward out of sight. Cracks, exposing red, hellish light from below, started at the wound and crossed the yard. No windows existed on the tower, and the single door was accessible only via a narrow span bridge crossing over the wound.*
They walked out, breaking the crust of the snow. Kyla shouted "Look!" They looked to see several of the uneven mounds in the blasted yard move and shift. The snow spread aside to reveal undead creatures. Their frozen mouths cracked open and shut with the sounds of wood splintering.
The Knights drew their weapons and attacked. Vek's sword Talon, when pulled from its scabbard, looked like it had just been forged- it glowed dull red. He thrust it through a wight, and it screamed. Menerous and Dartan cut and slashed while Kyla attempted to turn the unholy creatures with Pelor's power. With a brief effort, the combat was over.
They approached the door. Dartan reached for a handle, and saw that the door had none. It was solid, flat iron. He began feeling it, prodding it. An iron face emerged from the door like a body floating to the surface of a black pond. Dartan jumped back, ready to fight. The face was an old man's, with eyes closed and features made of iron.
"Who are you?" it asked.
"Oh great..." Dartan stood and straightened himself. "We are the Knights of the Silver Quill."
The face asked "Why have you come here?"
"We have come to find the Champion of Elemental Evil."
"Enter." The door opened, swinging inward. Before stepping in, Dartan and Jettok peered inside. The room was very dark, and it took their eyes a moment to adjust. When they did, they were looking at a room the circumference of the entire tower, thirty feet high, with a wrought-iron staircase at the other side. Then, they saw the two half-dragon tyranosaurs.
The whole party gasped in fear, but said nothing- they didn't want to alert the door to the fact that something might be wrong. No one spoke. The tyranosaurs didn't attack. After a year-long moment, Jettok stepped into the room. He walked slowly towards the staircase at the back. The half-dragon tyranosaurs turned their heads to watch him as he walked. Their deep, rumbling breaths echoed off the iron walls and stone in here, creating a haunting effect that seemed to say exactly what the situation was: something big and dangerous is in the room with you. Jettok continued to walk as sweat beaded on his forehead.
The blue dragon lowered its head. Jettok stopped. Its mouth was roughly two feet from the brave dwarf. He could see its teeth. He could smell its breath. He faintly realized he was terrified. The thing sniffed at him then pulled back. He walked the rest of the way to the staircase and clung to the railing like it was the only thing holding him up from a long fall.
Sir Vek was next to walk out across. As he did, Menerous turned to Dartan and said "I really thought they were going to attack Jettok. I really did."
From behind them: "Why would you think they would attack?" The group gasped and looked- the iron face had pressed itself through this side of the door, and was regarding them suspiciously.
Menerous' face paled. "Uh... no reason! We'll be on our way now." With wide eyes he turned and urged the group forward. The half-dragons were beginning to look at them with an odd light in their gazes. The group hustled past the creatures, which were taking slow steps toward the group with thunderous noise. When the group got to the staircase they broke into a run for the top. The dragons advanced, too late.
The Knights burst into the second level, huffing, faces pale and mouths gaping for breath. The encounter had been horrifying. On this level there was an odd purple stone column rising from the floor to the ceiling, widening as it did. Its surface was pearlescent. Dark shapes played behind the shining. Around the column were six doors. The doors stood apart from the column- they were just upright, separate doors.
Menerous and Dartan savored the feeling when the party deemed the doors too risky to deal with, and ascended the switchback stairs to the third level. Jamison was missed, but at a time like this, they were rather glad he wasn't around to touch, open, pull, push, and grab things.
On the third level, the purple column of the floor below continued upward. It was wider here, and wider yet at the ceiling. From around the column stepped a mighty demon with claws of razor-fire and a maw like a horse's skull. The Knights did him in with no great trouble. Seeing he had nothing of value, they moved on.
On the fourth floor, the column was so wide that it only left a ten-foot wide corridor leading around the tower. Into the top step was carved the legend:
The Dark God's favor smiles upon those willing to risk much to gain much.
From around the column of colored stone came a voice that sounded like two slabs of ice grating together. "Come around here and see if the fortune of the deities smiles upon you."
With weapons drawn they walked around the column. On the other side they found a solitary skeletal figure dressed in dark robes, sitting at an altar. Behind it was a row of lit candles. In its hands it shuffled a deck of large vellum cards.
"Will you draw the cards? Draw the cards. How many cards will you draw? There is great fortune in the cards. Great fortune and great ruin. Above all, there is power."
Sir Vek looked with alarm at the cards. He spoke to the others. "Do not play. I'm uncertain, but I'll bet that that is a 'Deck of Many Things' there. Many a soul has come to heartbreak, death and tragedy as a result of gambling with these horrid things."
The skeleton looked at them all with its empty eye sockets. "Dartan," it hissed. "There is great power for those brave enough to draw a card. How many cards will you draw?"
Vek grabbed his shoulder. "Don't do it, Dartan."
The word "power" rang in Dartan's head like a distant chime. He opened his mouth. "I'll take four."
"FOUR!?" the party gasped.
The skeleton chuckled to itself, shuffling the cards.
More to come...
*-from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil by Monte Cook
