ADVENTURE 07: CHAMBER OF THE SKY DRAGON'S CLAW
PC Roster:
Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 1
Galen Thorne, human paladin 3
Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 3
Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 2
Syngaard, human fighter 3
Game Session Date: 17 January 2018
- - -
Daleth had caught up with the others before they headed out of the city and south to Kaspar's former training temple. "Where have you been, Wizard-Pants?" asked Galen, astride his warhorse Seneca. The elf opted not to answer.
"I said--" began Galen, before being cut off.
"I do not reply to those addressing me in such a manner."
"I see," replied Galen, smirking. "Well then, Mister Stormsea, sir, if it please you, sir, may we ask about your recent whereabouts?"
Daleth heard the mockery in the young paladin's tone but decided he preferred it to being called by a ridiculous name. He deigned to reply. "I have been away to the Azure Glade, performing research there at the behest of Skevros."
Syngaard could easily have asked what the research was all about but he really didn't care. Instead, he interjected with, "Yeah? Well we been going out on actual missions - and gettin' paid a ton of money to do so."
"Indeed," replied Daleth. "And this current mission - going with Kaspar to his monastery so he can investigate a room - this is another of your lucrative missions?"
"This isn't really a mission," admitted Orion, mounted on her riding dog Carl. "Skevros said we could go because he doesn't currently need us, but he didn't assign us this task."
"I see. And so you are accompanying our monk out of the goodness of your hearts - and for free," Daleth added, looking directly at Syngaard as he said the last part.
"Wouldn't say for free," argued Syngaard. "No tellin' what all's in that sealed room. Could be treasure. Could be other weapons besides that ten-foot soomy."
"
Tenryutsume," corrected Kaspar. "It means 'sky dragon's claw.' I am going on the assumption that it is a weapon, but even that is uncertain. But yes, the others have offered to travel with me back to the monastery and I have gratefully accepted. You are welcome to travel with us, should you desire."
"I will accompany you," Daleth decided. "But I should like to make a few purchases before we leave town." That was no problem, as the marketplace was just inside the south gate. The elf wizard picked up a few potions and several scrolls of the
magic missile spell. He recognized it as his most powerful attack spell, but he'd been neglecting his wizardly training while off performing various tasks for Skevros. He knew as he progressed through the wizardly ranks over time he'd be able to cast the spell more times per day than was currently possible, so scrolls to make up the difference was a logical choice. "I am ready," Daleth announced after his last purchase and the group exited the gates and started down the road to Kaspar's temple.
The first part of the day was uneventful. They stopped around noon and ate rations beneath the shade of trees, Carl and Seneca drinking at a nearby brook winding through the woods. Then several more hours passed on the road before they met up with trouble.
Kaspar estimated they were less than half an hour from the monastery when he met up with a fellow monk on the road, one who had studied the basics with him during his years of training. "Kaspar, is that you?" asked the burly dwarf. Kaspar had once known his real name, but everybody at the monastery had always called him by his preferred nickname,
Stonebeard. "What are you doing out here? I thought you'd been sent out to travel the world!"
"I had," agreed Kaspar, glad to see Stonebeard again. They'd never been close friends, but his was a known face in a world of strangers outside the temple. "I have returned to enter the chamber of the
tenryutsume and face the trials."
Stonebeard's face fell. "Aw," he said, clear disappointment in his voice. "That's too bad. 'Cause that means we're gonna have to kill you."
Kaspar dropped into a defensive stance as the words left Stonebeard's lips; Galen and Syngaard both picked up on the "we" of the dwarf's statement and cast their eyes about, looking for his hidden allies. The paladin also checked Stonebeard's aura for the distinctive taint of evil and was surprised to see it lacking in the dwarven monk who had just stated his intention to kill them all in cold blood.
But then Galen saw one of Stonebeard's allies step out from the forest to the group's right. This was a human woman, wearing robes of the same color as both Kaspar and Stonebeard - and her aura was most definitely evil. Galen wheeled Seneca in her direction and charged. Knowing his foe to be evil, he channeled the positive energy of his patron deity Hieroneous through his sword, smiting the monk heavily as Seneca raced up beside her.
Stonebeard, in the meantime, had a foe standing right there before him. Adopting an attack stance, he struck forth like a mantis, whirling as he advanced to strike Kaspar with his hand and then a swiftly-kicking foot. The elf deflected the hand with his own arm but took the kick in the side of the ribs. Stonebeard may have had the build of a traditional stocky dwarf, but he was as nimble as any elf!
Several attack strategies came automatically to Kaspar's mind, but he shelved them for the moment in an attempt to reason with his former fellow trainee. "Why do you attack us?" he asked of Stonebeard. "If you wish to enter the chamber with us and go through the challenges of the
tenryutsume, we will welcome your presence."
"Only one can wield it!" argued the dwarf. "No use in bringing along the competition!"
"Surely the
tenryutsume will choose the most worthy to wield it," suggested Kaspar. "If that is you, I will not contest its decision."
"Ain't gonna be me," Stonebeard admitted. "But ain't gonna be you either!" He punched a fist at Kaspar which the elf easily dodged, and then, seeing the fruitlessness of further discourse, Kaspar subjected Stonebeard to a flurry of blows from his own fists, catching the dwarf in the side of the head with one well-placed strike.
Syngaard looked off to the trees on the group's left and saw two more figures stepping out: a human male to the front of the group by Orion and Carl and an elf back by him. He threw his javelin straight at the elf's face, and was greatly disappointed when the monk swatted it away as if it were nothing more than an irritating insect. Then the elf monk let his own weapon extend: it was a lengthy chain with a weighted ball of metal at one end and a bladed weapon rather like a small scythe at the other; Kaspar would later identify it as a kusari-gama but Syngaard had never seen anything like it. The elf swung the bladed end over his head in the same manner as the bald fighter used his own sling, then sent it flying at Syngaard. It hit him before he could dodge and Syngaard began appreciating just how deadly this weird-looking weapon could be. And, just as Syngaard's own
javelin of returning had returned to his hand after its failed strike at the elf monk, this kusari-gama was still in the elf's hand despite his having just thrown it - or one end of it, at least.
The wounded female human monk fighting Galen suddenly crouched, then leaped straight into the air and kicked out at the mounted paladin as her body pirouetted, nearly knocking him from the saddle. In the meantime, her male human counterpart stepped out from between the trees and sent a punch at Orion's face - even on Carl, the little halfling was at a much more even height with her foe. Orion dodged the blow by sliding off the saddle, landing gracefully on the dirt of the road through the woods and racing around behind her attacker as soon as her feet hit the dirt. She missed with her follow-on attack, but in distracting the monk with her
flaming short sword she allowed Carl to clamp down on one of his arms, holding the appendage between his teeth and crunching down.
Daleth, with the least amount of field experience of the five conscripts, was the last to react to the sudden scuffle. Still, he was able to summon up the appropriate words and gestures to send a
magic missile streaming from his fingertip to go crashing into Stonebeard's broad chest. The dwarf acknowledged the attack with a quiet grunt but continued his own assault upon Kaspar, catching the elf in the breastbone and causing him to stagger backwards, scrambling for a healing potion at his belt.
Galen unconsciously followed Orion's tactic in sliding from his mount, but he was focused upon his own foe and couldn't what see his halfling partner was up to. He swung the
sword of Zehkar at the human woman before him, who dodged below its arc with ease. She, in turn, made a sweeping kick that likely would have sent the armored paladin falling to his back, prone, had he not stepped away in time.
Syngaard, realizing that if this elf monk could swat away his javelin once he could likely do so again, opted to close to melee range.
Let's see him swat away my morningstar! he thought, racing forward. But in the span of time it took him to close the distance, the elf managed to strike out with his kusari-gama again, carving a slash along Syngaard's cheek with its blade. The bald fighter swore heavily, not because of the scar (he already had plenty of those - one more wouldn't even be that noticeable) but because the damn cut
hurt! He channeled all of his anger into his strike and managed to hit the elf, but the nimble monk rolled with the hit and took minimal damage from Syngaard's attack - which only made the bald fighter than much angrier.
With a quick tug, the male human monk managed to extricate his arm from Carl's grip, do a quick flip, and strike out at Orion with a bare foot. He connected heavily with the halfling's head, sending her reeling for a moment. But then, still flanking him with her riding dog, she stabbed out at the monk with her
flaming short sword, catching him in a vital spot. His hand dropped to his side, covering the wound but failing to staunch the sudden flow of blood, and he made the mistake of glancing down at the wound to see how bad it was. His gaze wavered only for a moment, but in that moment Carl pounced, dropping the monk to the dirt on his face and biting down on the back of the monk's neck.
The Durnhill conscripts had made the first kill in this fight - and it was courtesy of the riding dog.
Orion took a moment to stab out at the monk's corpse with her blade, but it was merely to sever the strings of the monk's purse from his belt. It was a practiced action that she'd performed many times before; she didn't even bother to look inside to see what she'd just pocketed - that would come later. Right now, there was still a battle going on. And a dog to praise. "Good boy!" she called to Carl, and the dog lolled his tongue over the side of his mouth, panting in pleasure.
Daleth targeted Stonebeard with another spell, this one a
color spray - and was disappointed when nothing happened. Mentally going over his own actions, he was convinced he'd performed the spell as required; the dwarf must have just overcome its intended effects. The elf's face soured at the realization. Stupid dwarves! Stonebeard had meanwhile moved up to Kaspar and the two monks were trading blows, each engaged equally with striking out at the enemy while simultaneously avoiding or deflecting his foe's attacks.
Galen swung his sword laterally at his enemy and caught the monk in the side. She flopped to the ground and the paladin saw her aura of evil start to fade as the life ebbed from her body. He stepped into the stirrups and swung his leg over the saddle, leading Seneca over to the elf monk fighting Syngaard - in a wide enough arc to stay out of range of the odd-looking chain weapon he was using against the fighter. But the elf was fighting craftily, using the kusari-gama's greater reach to his advantage: he'd strike at the fighter and back away, allowing him to get in another attack while Syngaard moved to close within striking range of his morningstar. Thus, the monk was getting in two attacks for Syngaard's every one. And even when Syngaard managed to strike his foe, it always seemed to be a mere glancing blow. Stupid monks!
Sensing the paladin's approach - not difficult, giving Galen was mounted on a warhorse and wearing noisy metal armor - the elf monk swung around and brought his weapon to bear against this new threat. Fortunately for Galen, he managed to deflect the blade against his shield just in time.
Orion ran quietly behind Stonebeard and stabbed him in the kidney with her
flaming short sword, calling for Carl to go help Syngaard - who, predictably, looked like he needed all the help he could get. As the riding dog bounded up to the elf, Stonebeard crashed to the ground, dead. Kaspar thanked the halfling, who seemed disappointed for some reason. Orion was actually glad she'd taken down the dwarf monk; she was just irritated she couldn't get to his purse in front of Kaspar without him noticing.
Daleth was drinking down a potion, which struck the halfling as odd - she didn't see any wounds on him, and while she'd been concentrating on her own battles, she'd seen from the corner of her eyes that the wizard had stayed well away from any of the hand-to-hand skirmishes. "It's a
potion of mage armor," explained Daleth, seeing the puzzlement in the halfling's face.
"Now?" she scoffed, rushing over to aid in the fight against the last opponent, the elf monk with the chain weapon. Silly wizards!
Galen hit the elf monk with his longsword, leaning over in the saddle to do so. Then he brought Seneca around and the warhorse reared and lashed out with his hooves, striking the evil elf a blow to the chin. Kaspar took a moment to drink down another healing potion; Stonebeard had been a fierce opponent! Then he, too, ran over to see what aid he could give.
Syngaard struck out with his morningstar, missing his foe entirely. The elf directed his next attack the fighter's way, switching his grip on the chain to send the blunt end crashing into Syngaard's forehead and sending him staggering. Still too far away for melee combat, Orion sent a dagger flying at the elf, but he didn't even exert any effort to swat it away, merely moved his head at the last possible second to let it sail harmlessly past him. But he was now surrounded by enemies on all sides and it didn't look good for him, despite his obvious combat superiority. He was convinced he could take each and every one of these idiots out one by one, in sequence, but all together like this...? Even an elf had his limits.
Galen proved the point by getting past the monk's defenses and stabbing him through the side with the
sword of Zehkar. The elf's head snapped to the side to stare up at Galen in surprise, and then he died without a word.
After this unexpected battle, the group took time to heal their own wounds, some by healing potions, some by Galen's laying on of hands, and some by good old fashioned bandages. "You know these guys?" Syngaard demanded of Kaspar.
"Only Stonebeard," replied the monk conscript. "The others must have come to the temple after I left - or left it before I showed up for my training." The latter seemed the most likely, at least in the case of the kusari-gama-wielding monk, for he seemed to have advanced beyond Kaspar's initial teachings. Kaspar had gathered up the chain weapon, not for use by himself - it was a difficult weapon to master - but to return to Master Phae at the temple. He'd be able to put it to good use, no doubt.
Syngaard had been untying the sash at the robe of the slain female human monk. Orion finally noticed what he was up to as he stripped the robe from the corpse. "What are you
doing?" she demanded.
The bald fighter looked over at the halfling, a look of puzzlement on his face, as if this was a trick question of some sort. "Pulling off her robe," he answered, holding up the item in question as evidence. The dead woman was now bare from the waist up.
"Creep!" exclaimed the halfling, turning her back and storming away. Galen heard the commotion and stepped over. "I say, Syngaard..." he began. "Is that really appropriate?"
Syngaard pulled out his rarely-used longsword from its scabbard at his belt. "I needed a sack or something," he answered, sawing through the woman's neck with his sword. His grisly task finished, he dropped the severed head onto the woman's unfolded robe and moved over to the next corpse.
"That's hardly necessary," offered Daleth with a look of distaste as Syngaard began cutting through Stonebeard's neck.
"It's proof, is what it is," countered Syngaard, dropping Stonebeard's head next to the woman's.
"And of the four enemies, you chose to remove the
woman's robes?" demanded Orion. She looked at the now-headless woman and saw Galen's gaze kept focusing in that direction as well.
"What?" replied Syngaard innocently. "She happened to be the closest." Then, seeing Galen's obvious discomfort at the woman's exposed breasts, he kicked the decapitated corpse over onto its stomach with his foot. "Get a grip, Galen - they're just boobs. And not even very good ones," he added. "I seen better." He went to fetch the heads of the other two dead monks, noticing as he did so that their coin purses had already been liberated from their belts.
"That's absolutely disgusting," offered Orion as Syngaard piled the four heads together.
"Yeah?" asked the fighter. "Then you're probably going to really hate this!" And, hoisting the male and female human heads up by their hair, he held them so their faces were grinding their lips together while he made appropriate kissing noises. Orion stormed off again, which had been Syngaard's hope in any case. He piled the heads back together on the robe, then folded the edges of the garment together and tied the whole thing into a package with the sleeves and sash.
"You guys ready?" he asked, the four severed heads held over a shoulder. As a professional courtesy to those with daintier dispositions, the bald fighter even stayed several paces behind the others as they trudged the last half hour down the road to the monastery.
The monk on duty at the gate of the training temple recognized Kaspar at once. "Kaspar!" he cried in delight. "Are you here to undergo the trial of the
tenryutsume?"
"I am," Kaspar replied. "But we had a little trouble down the road. We were attacked by Stonebeard and three others."
"These three," pointed out Syngaard, who had unpacked his grisly bundle and had the heads all lined up for inspection. "You seen 'em before?"
The monk's face showed distaste, but whether due to recognizing the faces before him or just the fact that there were four severed heads on the ground at his feet was difficult to discern. "Indeed," the monk sentry replied. "They were banished from the monastery. Stonebeard chose to leave with them."
"You guys got some pikes or something you wanna display these on?" Syngaard asked, looking around at the temple's walls for the best place to put his trophies on display.
"Syngaard!" exploded Orion. "Have a little decorum! Try to act like you're at least somewhat civilized!"
"I'll, uh, I'll go fetch Master Phae," the monk sentry stammered, calling another monk over to take his post while he fetched the temple's leader.
Master Phae beamed with pleasure upon seeing his former pupil. "It pleases me that you intend to take the challenge," he said. "You were one of my best students." Then he looked down at the heads lined up in a row on the ground and frowned. "Oh dear," he said. "I feared such would eventually be their fate." Then, looking back up at the group and giving the severed heads no further thought (he'd have a couple of the acolytes bury them shortly), he addressed the group at large. "You are welcome to spend the night in the monastery," he offered, then looked directly at Kaspar. "It would be best for you to take the challenge refreshed. I will have rooms prepared for you and your friends."
"What about our animals?" asked Galen. "We have a warhorse and a riding dog."
"And a halfling," added Syngaard, earning him a narrow-eyed glare from Orion.
"The animals will be cared for," promised Master Phae, ignoring Syngaard's rude comment. "This way, please." And the elderly monk led the others into one of the temple buildings.
"How many have taken the challenge thus far?" asked Kaspar as they went to their assigned rooms.
"Five have entered," Master Phae answered promptly. "None have returned."
That made for pleasant thoughts that evening while trying to sleep.
In the morning, however, the conscripts did indeed feel refreshed; the temple was quiet and relaxed and their sleep had been uninterrupted. After enjoying a breakfast of simple but nourishing temple fare - and after Daleth had had time to prepare the spells he deemed best suited for the task at hand - Master Phae led the conscripts to a door deep inside the largest of the temple buildings. It stood wide open but nothing could be seen within, due to the dark mists spilling out from it.
"None have returned," reminded the elderly monk. "You are invited to enter and face the trials within, should you choose to do so. There in no dishonor in declining."
"And there's nothing preventing my friends from accompanying me?" asked Kaspar.
"Not at all, if they choose to do so. But those entering will also face the trials." Syngaard seemed to be reconsidering the risk, as there was nothing stating for certain that there would be any treasure inside the chamber. He'd be risking his life for the mere
possibility of a suitable reward. He looked at the others, and Daleth and Orion stepped up beside Galen and Kaspar before the door. Well, that clinched it - nobody was ever going to be able to say that Syngaard lacked the courage of a damned
halfling! He stepped up beside the others.
"I wish you good fortunes," intoned Master Phae, bowing to his former student. Kaspar returned the bow and then stepped into the mists. The others followed.
They soon found themselves in a strange place. A 10-foot-wide corridor stood before them, with two niches on either side the same size as the niche they'd just stepped out of, each with runes carved above them. The walls of the corridor were 20 feet tall but lacked a ceiling; the noonday sun burned down on them from above, despite the fact it had been early morning when they stepped through the mists.
Kaspar recognized the runes above the four niches before him: Air, Water, Wood, and Metal; looking behind him, he saw the glyph for Fire above the mist-filled doorway they had just exited.
Then it is true, he thought. He'd been told his monastery was but one of five such throughout the world. "Come on," he said, striding forward down the corridor.
Ahead, there stood a large, open chamber with a door on both of the side walls and a throne perched against the back wall. The floor was strewn with dead bodies, a score or a couple dozen by the looks of them. Strangest yet, a dark mist hung oppressively along the top half of the room, leaving only the lower ten feet visible. It was like having a cloudy day for a ceiling.
Kaspar stepped to the end of the corridor, stopping just before the doorway into the chamber. Syngaard stood at his side, as if to demonstrate his courage. Directly behind the monk stood Galen, who scanned the room with his paladin's sight. "The room itself radiates no evil," he stated.
"Of course it doesn't," said a voice from the mist as it formed a twisting funnel, like a miniature tornado, aimed at the throne. The mists were all absorbed through this funnel, finally coalescing into the form of a human-shaped woman sitting on the throne. She had pale skin - almost white - and dark blue hair streaked with bronze. She smiled a greeting at the five conscripts peering into her chamber; for their part, they were noticing that they could actually see through her body to the throne upon which she sat. "Are you a ghost?" asked Syngaard.
The woman smiled and answered simply, "I am
Tenryu. Welcome to the four trials." She began putting on something that had been resting upon one of the arms of the throne: it was a glove of sorts, formed of bronze rings that went over each finger joint, with a bracelet around the wrist and a metal plate along the back of the hand, all of which were held together by delicate chains. She held up her right hand when she was finished, and modeled the glove for the conscripts. There was a claw at the tip of each finger. "
Tenryutsume," she announced. "Pass through the four trials, and it is yours."
Kaspar stepped boldly into the room. "Perhaps you would like to just present it to me," he suggested. "I assume you have some way of sensing my worthiness?"
Tenryu laughed. "What an absurd notion! You silly mortals never cease to amuse me! Yes, I have a way to sense your worthiness! They're the four trials: the Trial of Wealth, the Trial of Cunning, the Trial of Strength, and the Trial of Commitment." Nervously, Galen looked down the corridor at the way that they'd come, but the mists were now gone; the doorway back to Kaspar's training temple was shut off from them, as the wall beneath the Fire rune was now solid stone. It seemed the only way to return home was to overcome these trials...or end up like the dead bodies in the chamber if they failed.
Tenryu indicated the door to the left of the group. "You trials begin in there," she said, smiling. Galen stared at her with intensity, but he could sense no evil in the ghostly woman.
"Let's go," suggested Kaspar, walking to the indicated door. Orion stopped him from touching it before she could give it the once-over, provoking another smirk of delight from Tenryu and a shake of her ghostly head. "It looks safe," the halfling announced. Kaspar opened it to find a short corridor and yet another closed door. This one bore a legend:
What desire has the one who has everything? Only one with true wealth shall leave unscathed.
Opening this second door, Kaspar saw another large room. The back wall was filled with bookshelves, while in the center of the room sat a shallow pit filled with gems, jewelry, and coins. "Treasure," pointed out Syngaard to Daleth, who merely shrugged in annoyance.
"I suggest we don't touch anything," advised Kaspar, giving meaningful looks to Orion and Syngaard. The fighter raised his hands in a "Who, me?" gesture and Orion merely nodded her understanding. She advanced to the edge of the pit and looked at all the loot sitting there temptingly. Syngaard stood beside her, doing the same. There had to be the equivalent value of hundreds of thousands of gold pieces sitting right there, all for the taking....
Daleth, in the meantime, had walked around the pit to examine the bookcases. Kaspar and Galen followed, the paladin keeping the bald fighter and the halfling rogue in the corner of his eye, to ensure they didn't try anything foolish. "Interesting," observed the wizard.
"What?" asked Kaspar.
"The titles of these books," replied Daleth. "They're all in Draconic."
"That's not all," added Galen. "Look at them: they're all metal, every last one of them." Looking over at Kaspar for permission and getting a nod in return, he picked up a random book and flipped it open. "Even the pages are metal!" Sure enough, the Draconic characters on the pages were etched into the metal of the pages making up the book.
"I have heard of such things being done with spellbooks," Daleth mused, amazed at the vast amount of spellpower before him if all of the tomes before him were indeed spellbooks. He cast a quick
detect magic spell and observed, "All of these books are magic." Then, looking back over towards Syngaard and Orion, he added, "As are the coin and gems."
"So what's the trial here?" asked Syngaard. "Find the right treasure?"
"The inscription did mention 'true wealth'," observed Daleth. "Even a man with everything would still seek to increase his knowledge."
"So which book?" demanded Galen. "There's got to be hundreds of them here!"
"I don't imagine it makes much of a difference," replied Kaspar, reaching for the book in Galen's hand. "If the answer is 'knowledge' any book should do. You guys stay here." And he walked out of the door, down the short corridor, and through the door into Tenryu's chamber. She was sitting on her throne, a grin of anticipation on her pale face.
Before Kaspar could pose a question to Tenryu, he stifled a cry of pain. The book had been warming up during his short trek down the corridor, and now it was blazing hot! He dropped it to the stone floor, then kicked it back towards the treasure chamber with his toe. The metal seemed to cool the closer it got to the bookcase. Kaspar tentatively touched it with his fingertips once it hit the wood of the bookcase, then picked it up and replaced it where it belonged. "It isn't knowledge," he said.
"Betcha I know what it is," offered Syngaard suddenly.
"What might that be?" scoffed Daleth, amused that this human oaf would think he could figure out the answer to a puzzle sooner than his betters.
"Nothin'," replied Syngaard. Daleth smirked even harder, assuming the fighter had backed off from his ridiculous claims. But then the fighter pressed on, "If the guy's already got everything, then he don't need nothin', right?"
"I don't get it," replied Galen. "What about the 'true wealth' bit on the door? That doesn't make any sense."
"No, it does," admitted Kaspar. "A wise man realizes he has no need for material wealth. Good job, Syngaard." He went back to the central chamber, this time taking with him nothing from the treasure chamber. The others followed, likewise having left the contents of the room alone.
"Oh, very good!" complimented Tenryu upon seeing the five return from her treasure chamber. "You have overcome the Trials of both Wealth and of Cunning. Now you must overcome the Trial of Strength."
"And what of the Trial of Commitment?" asked Kaspar.
"You passed that one merely by entering this chamber the first time, knowing that to do so meant your deaths if you failed. So: three down, one to go."
"So what is this Trial of Strength?" demanded Galen.
"It's quite simple: demonstrate your worthiness to wield the
tenryutsume by defeating those who would wield it in your place." She gestured to the corridor through which they had first entered the testing chamber and the heroes could see mists billowing out from one of the side niches - the one with the Wood rune above it, if Kaspar's memory served. From within the mists strode three young women, two wearing ornate armor and helmets with fearsome horns and face coverings made to look like leering demons and one wearing the robes of a monk, similar to those worn by Kaspar but all black in color. She wielded no weapons, whereas the two samurai flanking her carried large, curved swords in their hands and had smaller ones tucked into the belts at their waists.
"It's a common question, asked and answered throughout the ages," observed Tenryu as the three women entered the chamber. "Which is stronger: good or evil?" Galen observed the auras of each of the women were tainted with evil and called this out to his friends.
"Only one of you can wield the
tenryutsume," the ghost-woman reminded the assembly. "I will leave it to you to decide who that will be."
Surprisingly, Daleth was the first to respond, by casting a
magic missile spell at the samurai on the east side of the doorway. She grunted in surprise at the sudden attack, then readied her sword in a two-handed grip and prepared to rush into the room. At her side, the other samurai did likewise. However, it was the slender monk who beat both of her bodyguards into combat. She slipped into the room with an unearthly speed and grace, targeting Galen with an ear-splitting scream and open-handed strike, likely assuming the heavily-armed paladin with the longsword was the most powerful foe in the group. Galen took the blow - in truth, it had been delivered too swiftly to dodge - but then brought his
sword of Zehkar down on his opponent, channeling Hieroneous's power in a mighty smite that nearly brought the monk to her knees.
Off to the side of the chamber by the door to the treasure room, Orion had too many people in her way to get a good bead on any of these foes, so she gripped a throwing dagger and waited for an opening. She got it shortly thereafter, when the samurai moved up, the first one attacking Kaspar and the other going for Galen. Orion's dagger hit Kaspar's opponent in the shoulder, causing her to take a moment to pull it out. Kaspar tried to take advantage of the distraction but the samurai had enough combat experience to be able to fend off his open-hand attack while tossing Orion's dagger to the floor.
Syngaard swung at the monk with his morningstar, reasoning that anybody with two such heavily-armed bodyguards had to be pretty powerful and should probably be taken down quickly. However, his swing was clumsy compared to the swift-moving monk, who easily dodged the weapon-blow.
Seeing all three enemies clumped together relatively close, Daleth stepped forward and lined up a
color spray spell that encompassed all three enemies without getting any of his friends in the cone. Both samurai managed to deflect the spell's effects, but the monk's movement slowed to a crawl and she visibly shook her head, trying to shake off the effect. Galen took the opportunity to strike out at the stunned monk, but her closest bodyguard pulled her physically out of the way, stepping forward to shield the blow with her katana.
Orion raced around the cluster of combatants, ending up in a flanking position with Galen. She struck out at the samurai with her
flaming short sword, catching her in the leg and causing her to stumble. But at the same time the other samurai struck Kaspar with her katana, drawing a line of blood across the monk's forearm. And her counterpart surprised everyone by aiming her counterattack not at Orion or Galen, who were pinning her in from two opposite sides, but Syngaard, who was within reach.
Kaspar struck out at the first samurai with a fist, but she dodged to the side at the last possible moment. Syngaard, still focused on taking out the monk, failed to stay out of the range of the samurai who had cut him with her blade. She caught him again as he tried to move past, and the fighter dropped to the floor, unconscious and bleeding out.
Daleth unrolled a
magic missile scroll and hurriedly read off the words, watching each one disappear from the parchment as he spoke them aloud. The missile struck the samurai who had just taken Syngaard down, but it failed to likewise take her down.
The black-clad monk, no longer stunned, did a cartwheel flip across the room and attacked Kaspar, likely having focused on him as her primary opponent as a potential wielder of the
tenryutsume. The elf took the kick to the side but rolled with it in an attempt to lessen the damage. Galen swung at the monk as she passed by him, but he missed - causing him to swear an unpaladinlike oath of disgust.
As much as she couldn't personally stand the man, Orion realized that they were losing this five-to-three fight and were now facing four-to-three odds without Syngaard. His battle prowess was questionable; while he seemed to do just fine against those kobolds, he was currently getting his ass beaten by these Eastern women. Still, if nothing else, he could better serve as an additional target and a "damage sponge" if he was up and about. So, part of her hating herself for her actions, Orion cradled the fighter's head on her knees and poured the contents of her most powerful - and expensive! - healing potion down his throat.
"Wha--?" sputtered Syngaard, coming to sudden wakefulness among the sounds of combat and finding himself practically lying in Orion's lap. He struggled to his feet, gripping his morningstar in his right hand and looking to get some vengeance on that samurai chick that brought him down.
"You'd better never say anything bad about halflings again!" warned Orion. "You owe your life to one!" That did nothing but put a sour expression on the fighter's scarred face and further fuel his rage.
As Syngaard was looking for his samurai foe, the other one was knocking Kaspar unconscious to the stone floor. Orion sighed and rushed to the monk's side, preparing another flask of magical healing. Then Syngaard spotted the samurai across the chamber, squaring off with Galen. Her katana scratched across his armor, making sparks fly. But then Syngaard noticed the monk was closer to him and, better yet, her back was turned. Returning to his original plan of taking out the leader, the fighter struck at her with his spiked weapon. He missed, but he drew the attention of both samurai who were tasked with protecting the monk, and Syngaard once again found himself as Enemy Number One.
"Take out the boss!" cried Syngaard, hoping somebody else could do the job he was having so much trouble with. Across the room, Daleth used his last
magic missile scroll following Syngaard's advice; the missile struck the monk but seemed to do the minimal possible amount of damage. In fact, the wizard wasn't even positive the monk had noticed his magical attack, focused as she was in taking down Galen. The paladin sliced at her with his sword and missed - he was doing far too much of that against these samurai!
Kaspar woke up in Orion's grip, the taste of her healing potion still on his tongue. "Thank you," he said before rising to his feet and looking to see how the combat was faring.
Not good. Syngaard was squaring off with both samurai, swinging his morningstar like a madman but seldom connecting, whereas they seemed to have no trouble stabbing at him with their swords. Fortunately, none of their cuts were very deep, but it was only a matter of time.
Having used up all of his scrolls and his most powerful spells, Daleth realized he was down to his dregs. Still, any amount of damage had to be good for their team, so he cast an
acid splash spell on the monk. She must have been fighting on her last ounce of energy, for the piddly little spell was all it took to drop her to the stone floor. A cry of relief arose from the other conscripts - these women weren't invincible after all! At the same time, the samurai gave forth with cries of horror - they had failed in their mission to protect their mistress! Now there was nothing left but to die in combat slaying as many of their foes as they could.
With renewed vigor, Galen swung his longsword at one of the samurai. As had been his fate for most of this fight, he missed - but it allowed Orion to sneak in from behind and get in a crippling strike with her
flaming short sword at the back of her foe's knee. Hobbling in pain, the samurai turned to face the halfling as if to retaliate, but then made a surprise midair swerve with her katana and brought it swinging back at Syngaard, stabbing him deep in the shoulder. He cried out in pain and actually caught her with his morningstar, but it was merely a glancing blow that slid off her armor. "Oh, come on!" cried the fighter, cursing the fates as he tried not to pass out again.
Daleth cast his last remaining
acid splash spell at the other samurai and was amazed when he couldn't even hit her with something so basic. He also realized that was pretty much his last remaining attack spell - from now on, he'd have to rely upon the light crossbow he used only in emergencies. As he pulled it from his back and dropped a quarrel into place, Galen attacked the samurai, hitting like Syngaard had done and seeing the majority of the force of his blow deflected along her armor. "We can't let them beat us!" the paladin cried out.
Fortunately, the team had a spry halfling on their team. As she had done to the other one, she snuck in underfoot, all but unnoticed, and cut deep with her
flaming short sword. This time, it wasn't a hobbling blow to the knee, either - it was a deep cut through the lower torso, slaying the beleaguered samurai instantly.
Ignoring the fact that she was now the sole combatant left from her team, the other samurai struck at Galen with her katana - but missed. She parried a retaliatory strike of the
sword of Zehkar with her own blade, then dodged back out of reach of Syngaard's swinging morningstar. But she was now surrounded on all sides, and it was only a matter of time before one of the conscripts would take her down.
As it happened, it was Orion again. Even Syngaard had to admit (silently to himself, of course) that she had really saved their bacon in this fight.
After the clashing blades of combat, the silence that followed was almost jarring - until it was broken by the sounds of clapping. Looking in the direction of the sound, the group found Tenryu clapping in appreciation of the spectacle. "Very entertaining!" she said. "You mortals never cease to amuse me! Now then, which of you is to wear the
tenryutsume?"
Everybody looked immediately at Kaspar.
"I thought as much," Tenryu smirked, gliding over to the young elven monk without seeming to even move her legs. She passed her right arm through Kaspar's, her elbow backing through his hand and arm, and in the process the
tenryutsume ended up on his right hand instead of hers. "Wear it well," she advised. "It's yours for the rest of your life - I'll take it back after then, but not before. In the meantime, you're more than welcome to increase its power - simply pay me the right amount and I'll be more than happy to unlock its powers for you."
Kaspar looked in amazement at the glove he now wore, turning it front and back and admiring its workmanship. Then he looked back at the pale woman. "You're a ghost," he began. Tenryu nodded her head in silent acknowledgement of the fact.
"...of a dragon," added Kaspar.
"Oh,
very well done," smiled Tenryu. "What gave it away?"
"Several things," replied the monk. "All of your books were written in Draconic, for one thing."
"That's not uncommon among spellcasters," pointed out Daleth. "Draconic is often used for treatises on arcane writings."
"Yes, but I don't imagine every single book in there is a treatise on arcane writings, is it?" countered Kaspar. "That looks like a small library covering a wide variety of topics."
"Indeed it is," admitted Tenryu, her smile even broader. "Please continue."
"And the treasure scattered in a pile there, in the middle of the room," Kaspar added. "It seems very...dragonlike. And then finally, there's the
tenryutsume itself, the 'sky dragon's claw.' You introduced yourself as 'Tenryu,' which would translate as 'sky dragon.' I assume that isn't really your real name?"
"No, but it's the name by which I have chosen to be known," replied the ghost, smiling in admiration. "Yes, I'm really a dragon, and a rather unique one at that: my mother was a bronze; my father, a blue. One traditionally good, one traditionally evil. Hence my interest in the conflicting concepts of good and evil, since I myself am neither."
"So what's behind this door?" asked Syngaard abruptly, pointing to the door on the wall across the entry to the treasure chamber.
"That is my own lair. There you may not enter."
"Can we take the weapons off of these dead bodies?"
"You may not. Those who entered and failed the trials are never to return - and that includes all of their equipment. I will add their belongings to my own treasure pile - some habits die harder than others, you understand." Syngaard didn't, but he wasn't going to argue the fact with a ghost-dragon, neither of which he felt like their group could handle right now.
Tenryu waved a hand at the entry corridor and mist began spilling from the Fire niche. "You have successfully passed my trials," she said. "You may return to your own lands. I can see my 'claw' is going to a truly worthy wielder, Kaspar. Good luck - to you all!" And with that, her translucent body became misty itself, dissipating into cloud and filling the top half of the chamber once again.
The conscripts each passed through the mists and returned to Kaspar's temple, and home.
- - -
Wow. What a difference between two subsequent adventures! The last time, my dice were rolling hot - Syngaard was hitting with his attacks and dealing significant damage. During this adventure, however, I continually rolled like crap, and on the few occasions I did manage to hit anything my damage was minimal. Dan had the same problem, as did most of the others to a much lesser extent. Logan, on the other hand, couldn't stop himself from rolling natural 20s for the enemies, to the point where we threatened to kidnap his red 20-sider, which was inflicting the most pain upon our hapless PCs. And it's pretty bad when the whole table is leaning forward, praying that the 1st-level wizard's
acid splash spell will hit because we desperately need to inflict those 1d3 points of damage. I can't be the only one who regretted the PCs having left the warhorse and riding dog behind when entering the trials.
Still, this ended up being Vicki's turn to shine, as she managed to kill two of the three enemies in the final battle, plus save the lives of both Syngaard and Kaspar. I just hope she's not holding her breath about Syngaard never insulting halflings again - that kind of restraint is really not in his nature.