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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
- Thread starter Lazybones
- Start date
Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 50
BENEVOLENT SQUALOR
Aelos’s light revealed that the monster was a bulbous creature with a squat torso the size of a wagon, with an ugly mottled hide that was the color and consistency of a sewer pit. A huge maw littered with teeth split the summit of its torso, and several tentacles jutted from its body; two long tendrils that ended in wide flaps of leathery hide, and a shorter stalk that appeared to support several beady eyes that peered intently at the intruders that had come upon its sanctum.
Talen tried to lift his sword, but the creature’s long tentacle had pinned his swordarm. The creature turned him upside down as it brought him close to the eye-stalk, shaking him slightly as it gave him a closer look.
“Let me through!” Dar said, all but shoving Allera into a trash heap as he burst from the passage, unlimbering his club as he came. But Varo leapt forward to block the fighter from charging the creature. “What in the hells are you doing?” he yelled.
“I don’t think it means him any harm,” Varo said.
“What? You’ve got to be kidding... look at it!”
“Talen! Are you hurt?” Varo asked.
“Um... no, I guess,” the captain said, as the creature lowered him back to within a few inches above the ground—right side up—although it did not release him.
The creature’s huge mouth opened up, and a rumbling like an earthquake issued from somewhere deep within its body.
“Wachoowanteretwolegsmellfunny”
“It speaks!” Aelos said.
“After a fashion,” Allera said, shooting a dirty look at Dar as she rose from the nearest mound, brushing filth of her cloak.
“I am Allera,” she said, holding up her empty hands to reassure it. “This is Dar, Varo, Aelos, and the man you are holding is named Talen. Could you release him, please?”
The creature looked at her—an eerie sensation, given its alien nature. Then it released Talen, dropping him a bit roughly to the ground. Its two long tentacles flailed at the air, and Dar likewise held himself ready for the situation to turn, his club gripped tightly in his hands. As it moved, the filth that caked its body dropped off in fat lumps.
“Did it say that we smell funny?” Dar asked.
“Dar, please, at least it is not attacking us,” Varo noted.
“What is your name?” Allera asked.
The creature made a noise the resembled a consumptive hacking up a lung.
“Uh... I think I’ll call it Max,” Dar said. “I knew a Max in the army, he kinda smelled and sounded like this guy.”
Allera shot him a look, then turned back to the otyugh. “We do not intent to hurt you,” she told it.
“Twolegstastyhungryhelps?”
“I think it’s asking if we want to be a meal,” Dar said, not taking his eyes off the creature.
“I think we’ll have to pass,” Talen said, rubbing his swordarm. He kept the weapon low, but ready to strike if the creature tried to grab him again.
“I’m afraid we aren’t very appetizing,” Allera said. “But I know where there’s a lot of good food... fresh, too. We could bring you some meat, in exchange for safe passage.”
“Um, what’s she doing?” Dar said in a whispered aside to Talen. “Is she saying what I think she’s saying?”
“She’s the diplomat,” Talen whispered back. “That thing had a tight grip. If you don’t want to be a meal for it, I’d suggest you follow her lead.”
The otyugh watched them all, but its eyestalks focused on Allera. “Twolegsmaketrade?”
While the healer continued to talk to the creature, Varo turned and looked at Aelos. “A benevolent creature amidst squalor?” he said to the cleric of the Father. Aelos, surprised, looked thoughtful and nodded.
It took only a few more brief exchanges for Allera to negotiate and arrangement with the creature. It seemed to know little about the dungeon beyond the cavern, not surprising, given that it was too big to navigate any of the exits. But it did show them one of the low rat tunnels that was mostly hidden behind a pile of refuse at the end of one of the branches of the cavern, a tunnel that it said led to, “Sumudderplace.”
Dar protested, but eventually agreed to help Varo drag several ogre limbs, hacked from the corpses back in the outer cavern, through the tight passageway. The otyugh accepted them eagerly, tearing into one of them while the companions watched with queasy stomachs. In exchange, the creature dug through one of its mounds with its tentacles, and pulled out a metal disk that it dropped onto the ground at their feet.
“Twolegshinymetaldangly,” it said.
Dar took a rag and wiped off some of the filth from the disk. “This is mithral!” he said. Turning it over, he could see the mounting brackets where leather straps could be fixed. “A shield.”
“Magical,” Varo said.
“It may have belonged to the elf whose body we found in one of those ogre sacks,” Talen said.
“Thank you for your generosity, um... creature,” Allera said. “If we come this way again, we’ll be sure to bring you more... food.”
As the otyugh turned to its meal, the companions retreated toward the passage that the creature had indicated. “Another tight squeeze,” Talen said, as they reached it.
“What just happened?” Dar asked, as Talen took the lighted staff from Aelos, and probed the entrance of the tunnel with it. “Did we just make friends with a ball of trash?”
“Any friend at all is better than none, in this place,” Varo said.
“It’s going to be crawling again,” Talen said, looking up at them. “But the tunnel appears to be unobstructed.” Handing the staff back to Aelos, he lowered his body until he was lying on the ground, and he started into the tunnel.
“These low tunnels... something bad is going to happen in them, I know it,” Allera said.
“Something bad is going to happen no matter what we do,” Varo said. “At least this way we are moving to confront our destinies, and not cowering in a corner waiting for it to come to us.”
“A cheerful thought,” Dar said. “You’re up, angel.”
Allera followed Aelos into the tunnel, followed by Varo. Once again, Dar brought up the rear.
This tunnel was longer than the others they had negotiated earlier. They crawled on for over a hundred feet, pausing occasionally to rest and to listen for any sounds of dangerous creatures ahead or behind. But other than the shuffling noises that they made as they moved, the cramped tunnel was as quiet as the grave.
“Gods, how far does this go on?” Allera asked.
“Opening up ahead,” Talen whispered back. Aelos nodded, and passed the word down the line.
Wary of another attack, the fighter emerged from the tunnel into another cavern. This chamber was big, maybe sixty feet across, with irregular crevices situated at uneven intervals around the perimeter. The floor was covered with gravel and small stones, and there were a few uneven mounds of debris visible within the radius of their light. The familiar stink of Rappan Athuk hung over the place, but after the otyugh’s chamber, the stale air smelled almost pleasant.
Talen drew his glowing sword, driving back the darkness another dozen paces, but still leaving the far side of the chamber draped in shadow.
Aelos turned to help Allera out of the tunnel. The healer nodded in thanks, and took several deep breaths.
Neither of them noticed the shadowy form that crept along the wall toward them.
Talen continued to stare out into the darkness. He heard nothing except for the sounds of his companions behind him, but there was something, a deep instinct, that whispered of something wrong.
Then he saw the eyes, points of red that hovered in the air at the edges of the light.
“Danger!” he hissed in warning. He lifted his sword, but even as he saw the humanoid creature charge into the light, another materialized out of the shadows behind them, leaping onto his back, digging its claws into his neck.
The captain screamed as life energy was sucked out of his body.
“Talen!” Allera yelled. She and Aelos rushed to his aid, but a third wight surged forward out of the shadows to block them, its claws extended eagerly to tear into the healer’s chest.
BENEVOLENT SQUALOR
Aelos’s light revealed that the monster was a bulbous creature with a squat torso the size of a wagon, with an ugly mottled hide that was the color and consistency of a sewer pit. A huge maw littered with teeth split the summit of its torso, and several tentacles jutted from its body; two long tendrils that ended in wide flaps of leathery hide, and a shorter stalk that appeared to support several beady eyes that peered intently at the intruders that had come upon its sanctum.
Talen tried to lift his sword, but the creature’s long tentacle had pinned his swordarm. The creature turned him upside down as it brought him close to the eye-stalk, shaking him slightly as it gave him a closer look.
“Let me through!” Dar said, all but shoving Allera into a trash heap as he burst from the passage, unlimbering his club as he came. But Varo leapt forward to block the fighter from charging the creature. “What in the hells are you doing?” he yelled.
“I don’t think it means him any harm,” Varo said.
“What? You’ve got to be kidding... look at it!”
“Talen! Are you hurt?” Varo asked.
“Um... no, I guess,” the captain said, as the creature lowered him back to within a few inches above the ground—right side up—although it did not release him.
The creature’s huge mouth opened up, and a rumbling like an earthquake issued from somewhere deep within its body.
“Wachoowanteretwolegsmellfunny”
“It speaks!” Aelos said.
“After a fashion,” Allera said, shooting a dirty look at Dar as she rose from the nearest mound, brushing filth of her cloak.
“I am Allera,” she said, holding up her empty hands to reassure it. “This is Dar, Varo, Aelos, and the man you are holding is named Talen. Could you release him, please?”
The creature looked at her—an eerie sensation, given its alien nature. Then it released Talen, dropping him a bit roughly to the ground. Its two long tentacles flailed at the air, and Dar likewise held himself ready for the situation to turn, his club gripped tightly in his hands. As it moved, the filth that caked its body dropped off in fat lumps.
“Did it say that we smell funny?” Dar asked.
“Dar, please, at least it is not attacking us,” Varo noted.
“What is your name?” Allera asked.
The creature made a noise the resembled a consumptive hacking up a lung.
“Uh... I think I’ll call it Max,” Dar said. “I knew a Max in the army, he kinda smelled and sounded like this guy.”
Allera shot him a look, then turned back to the otyugh. “We do not intent to hurt you,” she told it.
“Twolegstastyhungryhelps?”
“I think it’s asking if we want to be a meal,” Dar said, not taking his eyes off the creature.
“I think we’ll have to pass,” Talen said, rubbing his swordarm. He kept the weapon low, but ready to strike if the creature tried to grab him again.
“I’m afraid we aren’t very appetizing,” Allera said. “But I know where there’s a lot of good food... fresh, too. We could bring you some meat, in exchange for safe passage.”
“Um, what’s she doing?” Dar said in a whispered aside to Talen. “Is she saying what I think she’s saying?”
“She’s the diplomat,” Talen whispered back. “That thing had a tight grip. If you don’t want to be a meal for it, I’d suggest you follow her lead.”
The otyugh watched them all, but its eyestalks focused on Allera. “Twolegsmaketrade?”
While the healer continued to talk to the creature, Varo turned and looked at Aelos. “A benevolent creature amidst squalor?” he said to the cleric of the Father. Aelos, surprised, looked thoughtful and nodded.
It took only a few more brief exchanges for Allera to negotiate and arrangement with the creature. It seemed to know little about the dungeon beyond the cavern, not surprising, given that it was too big to navigate any of the exits. But it did show them one of the low rat tunnels that was mostly hidden behind a pile of refuse at the end of one of the branches of the cavern, a tunnel that it said led to, “Sumudderplace.”
Dar protested, but eventually agreed to help Varo drag several ogre limbs, hacked from the corpses back in the outer cavern, through the tight passageway. The otyugh accepted them eagerly, tearing into one of them while the companions watched with queasy stomachs. In exchange, the creature dug through one of its mounds with its tentacles, and pulled out a metal disk that it dropped onto the ground at their feet.
“Twolegshinymetaldangly,” it said.
Dar took a rag and wiped off some of the filth from the disk. “This is mithral!” he said. Turning it over, he could see the mounting brackets where leather straps could be fixed. “A shield.”
“Magical,” Varo said.
“It may have belonged to the elf whose body we found in one of those ogre sacks,” Talen said.
“Thank you for your generosity, um... creature,” Allera said. “If we come this way again, we’ll be sure to bring you more... food.”
As the otyugh turned to its meal, the companions retreated toward the passage that the creature had indicated. “Another tight squeeze,” Talen said, as they reached it.
“What just happened?” Dar asked, as Talen took the lighted staff from Aelos, and probed the entrance of the tunnel with it. “Did we just make friends with a ball of trash?”
“Any friend at all is better than none, in this place,” Varo said.
“It’s going to be crawling again,” Talen said, looking up at them. “But the tunnel appears to be unobstructed.” Handing the staff back to Aelos, he lowered his body until he was lying on the ground, and he started into the tunnel.
“These low tunnels... something bad is going to happen in them, I know it,” Allera said.
“Something bad is going to happen no matter what we do,” Varo said. “At least this way we are moving to confront our destinies, and not cowering in a corner waiting for it to come to us.”
“A cheerful thought,” Dar said. “You’re up, angel.”
Allera followed Aelos into the tunnel, followed by Varo. Once again, Dar brought up the rear.
This tunnel was longer than the others they had negotiated earlier. They crawled on for over a hundred feet, pausing occasionally to rest and to listen for any sounds of dangerous creatures ahead or behind. But other than the shuffling noises that they made as they moved, the cramped tunnel was as quiet as the grave.
“Gods, how far does this go on?” Allera asked.
“Opening up ahead,” Talen whispered back. Aelos nodded, and passed the word down the line.
Wary of another attack, the fighter emerged from the tunnel into another cavern. This chamber was big, maybe sixty feet across, with irregular crevices situated at uneven intervals around the perimeter. The floor was covered with gravel and small stones, and there were a few uneven mounds of debris visible within the radius of their light. The familiar stink of Rappan Athuk hung over the place, but after the otyugh’s chamber, the stale air smelled almost pleasant.
Talen drew his glowing sword, driving back the darkness another dozen paces, but still leaving the far side of the chamber draped in shadow.
Aelos turned to help Allera out of the tunnel. The healer nodded in thanks, and took several deep breaths.
Neither of them noticed the shadowy form that crept along the wall toward them.
Talen continued to stare out into the darkness. He heard nothing except for the sounds of his companions behind him, but there was something, a deep instinct, that whispered of something wrong.
Then he saw the eyes, points of red that hovered in the air at the edges of the light.
“Danger!” he hissed in warning. He lifted his sword, but even as he saw the humanoid creature charge into the light, another materialized out of the shadows behind them, leaping onto his back, digging its claws into his neck.
The captain screamed as life energy was sucked out of his body.
“Talen!” Allera yelled. She and Aelos rushed to his aid, but a third wight surged forward out of the shadows to block them, its claws extended eagerly to tear into the healer’s chest.
Richard Rawen
First Post
jfaller said:
I'm one behind, really busy lately, but I had to respond to jfaller -
I have No doubts about Varo... that guy is seriously Twisted. I have no idea what LB has in store for us, or the DB more to the point, but whatever it is, Varo is a major player.
And it won't be pretty, even by RA's standard.
- - - - - - -
All caught up . . . Awww CRAP, Wights!? TURN UNDEAD! Varo? Aelos? Somebody get that mojo going!
Last edited:
"...the cramped tunnel was as quiet as the grave."
Oooh, good foreshadowing LB! When you said that my skin crawled...In Rappan Athuk that's definitely a double entendre.
Hey Richard, yeah I'm with ya. I completely agree that Varo's going to rock their (the DB's) world at the most inopportune time. Wouldn't it be neat though if he DOES turn out to be the good guy? Although, in a place like Rappan Athuk, good could be a relative term. i.e. The enemy of my enemy is my ally? ;-)
BTW, I'm loving this little side, quasi-romance between Dar and Allera. Cool interplay. You really have to cheer for Dar and what he "could" become.
Oooh, good foreshadowing LB! When you said that my skin crawled...In Rappan Athuk that's definitely a double entendre.
Hey Richard, yeah I'm with ya. I completely agree that Varo's going to rock their (the DB's) world at the most inopportune time. Wouldn't it be neat though if he DOES turn out to be the good guy? Although, in a place like Rappan Athuk, good could be a relative term. i.e. The enemy of my enemy is my ally? ;-)
BTW, I'm loving this little side, quasi-romance between Dar and Allera. Cool interplay. You really have to cheer for Dar and what he "could" become.
Baron Opal
First Post
I miss the Marshal. *sigh*
Lazybones
Adventurer
Chapter 51
UNTO DEATH
Caught by surprise, Allera cried out as the wight charged at her. Aelos, likewise startled by the monster’s sudden appearance, could not react in time to intervene.
The creature slammed into her, raking with its claws. The healer’s magical armor withstood the attack, however, and the life-draining claws did not touch her flesh. The wight, furious, tried to grab a hold of her, and drag her down into a grapple.
Allera had been caught off guard, but she quickly recovered her wits. “Begone, abomination!” she yelled, placing her own hands upon its head. She grimaced as the deadly chill of its skin crept into her fingers, but she called upon her own magic to defeat it, unleashing a powerful surge of life-giving positive energy into the undead monster.
Now it was the wight that screamed, as its corrupt flesh was blasted from its bones. It fell back, smoke rising from its scorched skull.
Talen was having difficulties. He had yanked off the wight clinging to his back, but as he turned to stab it the second one had come at him from behind, charging into him and catching the captain in close between them. Thus far his armor had protected him from being energy-drained again, but with the wights in so close he was having a tough time bringing his sword into play.
Varo rushed forward, his divine focus held up in one hand. “I command you in the name of Dagos, back!” he shouted. But nothing happened; the wights were not affected, and the one that Allera had blasted was already recovering, even though only one eye still glowed within its ravaged skull.
“Aelos! Call upon the Father!” Varo urged.
The holy cleric was already acting, lifting the sigil of the silver torch, and presenting it to the creature. “Begone!” he said, echoing Allera’s earlier command. The cleric’s voice, thick with power, echoed through the room, and the wight in front of them cowered, drawing back until the cavern wall ended its retreat. One of the pair facing Talen likewise fell back and fled, running across the cavern until the darkness swallowed it up. The last one held its ground, but the departure of one of his foes gave Talen a chance to sweep his sword across its body, opening a terrible gash in its torso.
“Aaarr!” Dar yelled, finally joining the fray, leaping up from the tunnel to charge to the captain’s aid. He’d drawn Valor, and as the wight turned toward him, claws outstretched, he swept the blade across its body in an all-out power attack that cut, and just kept on going.
The two halves of the wight’s body fell to the ground in a bloodless heap.
Varo was bludgeoning the injured one cowering against the nearby wall. “Find and destroy the last one,” he said to Dar. The warrior had sheathed Valor, and was looking from the sword to the body of the monster he’d destroyed. At Varo’s command he nodded, and headed across the chamber to where the last creature had fled. Aelos followed him, bringing his staff so that he could see.
Allera came over to Talen. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I feel... cold.”
“The effect of the wight’s touch; it has drained some of your life essence. You may be able to fight it off, in time, but we don’t have that right now.” The healer reached into her satchel and drew out a small pouch. She took a pinch of fine dust from it, and sprinkled it over the soldier, whispering soft words of power as she did so. Talen shuddered as his stolen life was restored to him.
It didn’t take long for Dar to return. “Last one’s destroyed. I didn’t see any more, but it looks like there’s a lot of small tunnels leading off this chamber.”
“Let’s take a look,” Talen said. “Stay together, and keep an eye out; those things were damned good at remaining undetected.”
But they didn’t find any more wights lurking in the shadows. They did find a small tunnel that opened onto a passage of worked stone. All of the other crevices appeared to lead to dead ends, or to tunnels too small for them to navigate, so they headed in that direction.
The passage, formed of ancient stone blocks, was only five feet wide, but after the crawlspaces of earlier, it seemed relatively spacious. Talen took the lead, and after about sixty feet guided them into a large, roughly diamond-shaped room. This chamber was also deliberately crafted rather than naturally occurring, but like the last was almost empty, populated only by dirt and assorted debris. A small door in a recessed threshold was just visible on the far side of the room.
After a brief search, they ended up at the door. Talen listened at it briefly, and then gestured for the others to take up ready positions. For once, Dar did not make a comment, instead standing beside the door, and lifting his club. He nodded at the captain when he was ready.
Talen yanked the door open. Beyond was a narrow, twisting passage. The illumination from Talen’s sword and Aelos’s staff revealed nothing ahead, but at the edges of the light shone on what looked like another room at the end of the corridor.
They moved on.
The room at the end of the corridor was a long rectangular chamber about forty feet wide and thirty deep. There was one immediate difference obvious about it; this place showed signs of intelligent residents.
“Looks like somebody called this place home,” Talen said.
There were six beds, human-sized, arranged in two rows in the center of the place. Six plain wooden chests were arranged at the feet of the beds, facing the center of the room. Rolled up bedrolls along the edges of the room suggested that more people sometimes slept here, and brackets for torches set in the walls suggested that whoever they were, they utilized artificial light sources.
There was another door in the wall to their left, set with a bronze casting of a leering humanoid face at eye level.
The companions moved into the room, wary.
“We are close,” Aelos said. “There is a powerful evil aura near this place.”
“Where’s it coming from?” Talen asked. Aelos pointed to the door.
“I can feel it too,” Varo said, taking up a position along the wall.
“We must be near the evil temple,” Allera said.
“Well, if they gotta sleep, then they can be killed,” Dar said simply. He’d gone over to take a look at the chests, and he flipped the latch of one with his boot, and kicked it open.
“No, don’t...” Talen began.
He was cut off as a blast of electrical energy erupted from the chest, slamming into Dar’s chest. The fighter staggered back as the bolt tore through him, draining away in sparks that leapt to the floor and to the other chest and bed across from him. He stood there, his chest blackened, smelling of burnt flesh and ozone.
“Ouch,” he said.
Allera started toward him at once, but Varo stopped her. “Look!” he said, pointing at the chest that the lightning bolt had hit after passing through Dar. Dark green vapors were seeping from the chest where the bolt had scorched it, spreading out into the air in ominous tendrils.
“Back, everyone!” Talen commanded. They retreated into the corridor, where Allera summoned her power to treat Dar’s injuries.
“That was stupid,” she told him.
“Anybody ever tell you that you’ve got an awful bedside manner?” he replied.
Varo and Talen had kept a close eye on the room. The vapors had formed a small cloud in front of the chest, hovering in the air for a minute or two before dissipating.
“Burnt othur,” Varo said. “Nasty stuff.”
“Is it safe?”
“Give it another few minutes. And I would recommend not touching that chest further.”
“Nobody touch anything,” Talen said to all of them, his gaze lingering on Dar. “All of them might be trapped, for all we know.”
They waited until the othur fumes had dissolved completely, but even so were careful to give the chests a wide berth as they made their way back into the room. “So now what?” Dar asked.
“The answers we seek are through there,” Aelos said, indicating the door with his staff.
“Orcus cultists,” Talen said, drawing his sword. Varo whispered something to Dar; the fighter nodded and walked around the room to the area the far door, although he made it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere near it.
“We may be able to catch them off guard,” Allera said.
“The Father will watch over us, and grant us victory,” Aelos said.
“Maybe, but I don’t think that’s what you have in mind,” Varo said.
Aelos looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean by that?” Talen asked.
“What I mean,” Varo said, his words stabbing through the air like daggers, “Is that he’s a traitor. Aelos Sinaris is a priest of Orcus.”
UNTO DEATH
Caught by surprise, Allera cried out as the wight charged at her. Aelos, likewise startled by the monster’s sudden appearance, could not react in time to intervene.
The creature slammed into her, raking with its claws. The healer’s magical armor withstood the attack, however, and the life-draining claws did not touch her flesh. The wight, furious, tried to grab a hold of her, and drag her down into a grapple.
Allera had been caught off guard, but she quickly recovered her wits. “Begone, abomination!” she yelled, placing her own hands upon its head. She grimaced as the deadly chill of its skin crept into her fingers, but she called upon her own magic to defeat it, unleashing a powerful surge of life-giving positive energy into the undead monster.
Now it was the wight that screamed, as its corrupt flesh was blasted from its bones. It fell back, smoke rising from its scorched skull.
Talen was having difficulties. He had yanked off the wight clinging to his back, but as he turned to stab it the second one had come at him from behind, charging into him and catching the captain in close between them. Thus far his armor had protected him from being energy-drained again, but with the wights in so close he was having a tough time bringing his sword into play.
Varo rushed forward, his divine focus held up in one hand. “I command you in the name of Dagos, back!” he shouted. But nothing happened; the wights were not affected, and the one that Allera had blasted was already recovering, even though only one eye still glowed within its ravaged skull.
“Aelos! Call upon the Father!” Varo urged.
The holy cleric was already acting, lifting the sigil of the silver torch, and presenting it to the creature. “Begone!” he said, echoing Allera’s earlier command. The cleric’s voice, thick with power, echoed through the room, and the wight in front of them cowered, drawing back until the cavern wall ended its retreat. One of the pair facing Talen likewise fell back and fled, running across the cavern until the darkness swallowed it up. The last one held its ground, but the departure of one of his foes gave Talen a chance to sweep his sword across its body, opening a terrible gash in its torso.
“Aaarr!” Dar yelled, finally joining the fray, leaping up from the tunnel to charge to the captain’s aid. He’d drawn Valor, and as the wight turned toward him, claws outstretched, he swept the blade across its body in an all-out power attack that cut, and just kept on going.
The two halves of the wight’s body fell to the ground in a bloodless heap.
Varo was bludgeoning the injured one cowering against the nearby wall. “Find and destroy the last one,” he said to Dar. The warrior had sheathed Valor, and was looking from the sword to the body of the monster he’d destroyed. At Varo’s command he nodded, and headed across the chamber to where the last creature had fled. Aelos followed him, bringing his staff so that he could see.
Allera came over to Talen. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I feel... cold.”
“The effect of the wight’s touch; it has drained some of your life essence. You may be able to fight it off, in time, but we don’t have that right now.” The healer reached into her satchel and drew out a small pouch. She took a pinch of fine dust from it, and sprinkled it over the soldier, whispering soft words of power as she did so. Talen shuddered as his stolen life was restored to him.
It didn’t take long for Dar to return. “Last one’s destroyed. I didn’t see any more, but it looks like there’s a lot of small tunnels leading off this chamber.”
“Let’s take a look,” Talen said. “Stay together, and keep an eye out; those things were damned good at remaining undetected.”
But they didn’t find any more wights lurking in the shadows. They did find a small tunnel that opened onto a passage of worked stone. All of the other crevices appeared to lead to dead ends, or to tunnels too small for them to navigate, so they headed in that direction.
The passage, formed of ancient stone blocks, was only five feet wide, but after the crawlspaces of earlier, it seemed relatively spacious. Talen took the lead, and after about sixty feet guided them into a large, roughly diamond-shaped room. This chamber was also deliberately crafted rather than naturally occurring, but like the last was almost empty, populated only by dirt and assorted debris. A small door in a recessed threshold was just visible on the far side of the room.
After a brief search, they ended up at the door. Talen listened at it briefly, and then gestured for the others to take up ready positions. For once, Dar did not make a comment, instead standing beside the door, and lifting his club. He nodded at the captain when he was ready.
Talen yanked the door open. Beyond was a narrow, twisting passage. The illumination from Talen’s sword and Aelos’s staff revealed nothing ahead, but at the edges of the light shone on what looked like another room at the end of the corridor.
They moved on.
The room at the end of the corridor was a long rectangular chamber about forty feet wide and thirty deep. There was one immediate difference obvious about it; this place showed signs of intelligent residents.
“Looks like somebody called this place home,” Talen said.
There were six beds, human-sized, arranged in two rows in the center of the place. Six plain wooden chests were arranged at the feet of the beds, facing the center of the room. Rolled up bedrolls along the edges of the room suggested that more people sometimes slept here, and brackets for torches set in the walls suggested that whoever they were, they utilized artificial light sources.
There was another door in the wall to their left, set with a bronze casting of a leering humanoid face at eye level.
The companions moved into the room, wary.
“We are close,” Aelos said. “There is a powerful evil aura near this place.”
“Where’s it coming from?” Talen asked. Aelos pointed to the door.
“I can feel it too,” Varo said, taking up a position along the wall.
“We must be near the evil temple,” Allera said.
“Well, if they gotta sleep, then they can be killed,” Dar said simply. He’d gone over to take a look at the chests, and he flipped the latch of one with his boot, and kicked it open.
“No, don’t...” Talen began.
He was cut off as a blast of electrical energy erupted from the chest, slamming into Dar’s chest. The fighter staggered back as the bolt tore through him, draining away in sparks that leapt to the floor and to the other chest and bed across from him. He stood there, his chest blackened, smelling of burnt flesh and ozone.
“Ouch,” he said.
Allera started toward him at once, but Varo stopped her. “Look!” he said, pointing at the chest that the lightning bolt had hit after passing through Dar. Dark green vapors were seeping from the chest where the bolt had scorched it, spreading out into the air in ominous tendrils.
“Back, everyone!” Talen commanded. They retreated into the corridor, where Allera summoned her power to treat Dar’s injuries.
“That was stupid,” she told him.
“Anybody ever tell you that you’ve got an awful bedside manner?” he replied.
Varo and Talen had kept a close eye on the room. The vapors had formed a small cloud in front of the chest, hovering in the air for a minute or two before dissipating.
“Burnt othur,” Varo said. “Nasty stuff.”
“Is it safe?”
“Give it another few minutes. And I would recommend not touching that chest further.”
“Nobody touch anything,” Talen said to all of them, his gaze lingering on Dar. “All of them might be trapped, for all we know.”
They waited until the othur fumes had dissolved completely, but even so were careful to give the chests a wide berth as they made their way back into the room. “So now what?” Dar asked.
“The answers we seek are through there,” Aelos said, indicating the door with his staff.
“Orcus cultists,” Talen said, drawing his sword. Varo whispered something to Dar; the fighter nodded and walked around the room to the area the far door, although he made it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere near it.
“We may be able to catch them off guard,” Allera said.
“The Father will watch over us, and grant us victory,” Aelos said.
“Maybe, but I don’t think that’s what you have in mind,” Varo said.
Aelos looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean by that?” Talen asked.
“What I mean,” Varo said, his words stabbing through the air like daggers, “Is that he’s a traitor. Aelos Sinaris is a priest of Orcus.”
Richard Rawen
First Post
Lazybones said:
but... erk, erm... yeah... ok? I mean, he didn't Turn those undead earlier in the name of the Father... and he did let loose with a cause wounds spell - was that against the trolls ?
Huh... wild. Probably all about getting the healer in for a sacrifice or some strange thing. Or maybe he's just using the rest of them as an escort to get there safely... home... to the Orcs?
Wierd... nice Friday Cliffhanger LB... you still got it, in spades =-)
Aramis Simara
Explorer
Hmmmm, just a cleric of Dagos spreading choas? It is one of his domains.
