The Liberation of Tenh (updated April 24)
(contact)
Explorer
Chapter 45
Wealsun 17, CY 593
45: Charity is a dangerous business, after all.
The Pholtan fixes the child in his gaze and says, “Boy, what did I tell you about dinner?”
“Yes, sir.” The boy wrinkles his nose and takes a mouthful of the cannibal’s stew.
-----
Before the boy can finish his gelatinous stew, Heydricus appears in the room, next to where the old woman was standing just moments before. Multiple images of him flicker and dance in and out of space, each one resplendent in glistening celestial armor, with Heydricus’ holy symbol of his office – the Liberator’s Spear – clutched in its hand. The spear is decorated with two blue pinions, and one red, symbolizing the two lesser and one greater Boneheart members he has killed. Behind him Dabus towers—his naturally tall frame exaggerated to over nine feet in height, he radiates Tritherion’s might. Prisantha, of course, is invisible.
“Well met, gentle souls,” Heydricus says in his most soothing tones, as if the sudden appearance of adventurers lit up head-to-toe with such sickeningly good enchantments could be anything other than trouble for extra-planar slave-traders. Despite Heydricus’ ploy, there will be no parley.
One of the “goblin children” sitting directly across the table from where the party appears begins to sprout hair and elongate, until it is stretched out at its full length, its forepaws on the table, and its teeth snapping at Heydricus’ mirror images. Gobbets of thick spittle fly from the flapping lips of the creature as it gnashes at the air.
“Headmaster, what are you teaching your children?” Heydricus asks, false surprise in his voice. The Headmaster for his part, appears sincerely shocked and terrified. His mouth opens and closes, as if he means to say something stern, but cannot for the life of him bring anything to mind.
At that moment, the goblin sitting directly in front of the Headmaster transforms, and with its massive bulk multiplying and expanding in an instant, the Headmaster is crushed against the wall, and grimaces as his ribcage is shattered like the last time the canary got a quickened extended righteous might. As it settles back on its haunches, the devil-wolf grinds the man into the wall, then springs forward with a hellish howl, plowing over and through the terrified, screaming children; it leaps half onto the giant-sized Dabus, and half onto the long table. The table collapses under the strain, and the creature falls onto its side, trapping one child beneath its shoulder.
Dabus exhales deeply, and is filled with a rush of potency and strength, courtesy of Tritherion. Dabus drives his spear into the front shoulder of the wolf-thing fighting him, and begins to back the howling creature away from the party.
Prisantha casts hold monster on the hideous female humanoid, freezing her in place, then snaps off a mass suggestion to the children, “Quick, go into the other room, it’s not safe for you here.” As the children scramble to obey, a wolf-thing lashes out at one of them, and kills the child. The wolf on Dabus bites into him, disrupting his heal spell. The wolf attacking Heydricus’ mirror images turns to the softer target, and does its level best to rip Dabus’ spine out. Fortunately, the badly wounded cleric is saved by his circlet of minor displacement, but he is badly wounded and cannot last much longer. Heydricus lays into the wolf on Dabus’ back, wounding the creature, but cannot protect his friend fully from the fiend’s vicious rage.
Prisantha says, “I wish Dabus were standing behind me,” and in an instant, it is so. With Dabus out of harm’s way for the moment, she casts a greater dispelling on one of the creatures, but produces no discernable effect. One of the wolves leaps toward Pris, knocking her to the ground and pinning her beneath its bulk as it lashes out at Dabus. Fortunately, the creature’s first impact slams Dabus’ head back far enough to put him out of reach of the snapping jaws, and the cleric is saved for a second time by blind luck.
Thanking Tritherion for his reprieve, Dabus heals himself, and levels his spear. The wolf-thing facing Heydricus takes stock of its rapidly worsening predicament, and flees from the room, following the children’s path. High-pitched screams of terror are heard through the doorway.
Prisantha squirms out from underneath her bestial blanket, and attempts to polymorph the creature. Unfortunately, her spell fails to take effect, but the wolf-thing becomes distracted for a moment attempting to locate the invisible wizardess, providing Heydricus the opening he needs. Heydricus focuses all his might into one single powerful thrust and impales the creature cleanly on his spear. As the beast dies, Heydricus’ pinions are seen to be all red.
The party chases after the fleeing monster, and finds it distracted by the scrambling children. In an instant, it joins its companions, and after Dabus is hasted, the party sets about emptying every curative spell and potion they possess into the wounded children. They are successful, and manage to save all but two of them. Unfortunately, the Headmaster is dead by the time they arrive, his soul gone on to Pholtus for Judgement.
-----
The group faces the held hag. Assuming that their foe will have sense enough to come in out of the rain, they dispel the enchantment, hoping to parley. But she is either legendarily confident or simply stupid, and the disgusting woman leaps at Prisantha, blunting her hooked fingers against the enchantress’ stoneskin.
Prisantha speaks a quickened suggestion, “Tell us where the soul of the noble child is, and we will let you return to your home plane.”
Suddenly convinced of the soundness of the idea, the hag stops trying to rip Prisantha in two and says simply, “They all live in the walls of my lair.”
Heydricus faces the wretched woman. “Give us the soul of the Talinth heir, and we will let you live.”
The hag regards him cannily. “I only give what cannot be bought. So is it now, so has it been since my ancestors sprang whole from the dreams of mortals.” The foul creature’s breath reeks of carrion and disease. “For his soul, I demand a gift. I crave a magic item. What have you that will enhance my strength?”
Heydricus takes a quick mental appraisal of his magic items, and removes an amulet from around his neck. “I have no such thing, but you will be well pleased with this. It will harden your skin, and protect you from harm.”
The hag takes the amulet, and favors the party with a sly smile. “This will do. I will go and come back for you with the child.”
“No,” Heydricus says. “You will take us to your lair.”
“You would not survive the trip,” she sneers. “Do you propose to change by your word the fashion of a trade that has been followed for millennia? Would you undo the rules that bind the very Dukes of Hell, or the demonic Princes? Friends, come to your senses. I can be trusted.” The hag bares her gapped teeth in a parody of a smile. “After all, do you suppose the fiends would suffer me to live if I broke my word?” The party seems to accept this explanation, so she continues. “Return to this place, in one year and one day. I will be here with your soul.”
“In one year and one day, we could kill you and find your lair,” Heydricus laughs. “You will return tonight, or I will forget our bargain.”
“I do not take orders from merchandise!” the hag sneers.
“Merchandise?” Heydricus says. What is merchandise?”
“Why you are,” she purrs, looking longingly at the assembled group. “You all are.”
Heydricus favors her with a withering glare, and reaches for his spear.
“Very well,” she hisses. “Stay your hand. I will return to this place at the darkest hour tomorrow evening.”
“I’m warning you—don’t betray us.”
“Ridiculous,” the hag scoffs. “Do you have any idea how long it took my kind to gather the trust and esteem we proudly bear? I am good to my word, mortal.”
“What is your name?” Prisantha asks.
“You may call me Dispater,” the hag says with a laugh, as she slowly fades from view.
-----
With the hag gone, Dabus casts cure disease on the worst cases amongst the children, and Heydricus rounds up the younger ones, holding the two smallest ones in his arms, while three others hang from his backpack, and adventurer’s harness. Despite their recent trauma, the children laugh and play with the huge Liberator, tugging at his armor and weapons in a mock battle.
Prisantha watches all this with a distant expression, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.
Two of the older children are not so easily swayed, and announce their intention to take to the streets of Stoink, free at last of the Pholtan Headmaster’s charity.
“I don’t know,” Heydricus says. “The life here is kind of tough. If you join our gang, you’ll eat every day, and be free to roam as you wish . . .”
This seems to convince the children, and after some disgruntled sniffling and boot-stomping, they agree, and the motley parade takes to the streets of Stoink’s worst neighborhoods in the dead of night.
“This . . . that thing,” Dabus says, a cold realization dawning over him. “This is untenable! It trades in souls. This is an extra-planar slave trade in its lowest form!”
“It is,” Prisantha agrees somberly.
“Fantastic!” Dabus says. “I was really starting to wonder what we’d all be up to over the long run! Glorious Tritherion, we heed your call!”
-----
Whether it is the pure strangeness of the group that gives Stoink’s criminal class pause, or the fact that the group looks profoundly unconcerned with the danger, their journey back to the manor is brief and uneventful. They are confronted by a group of armed thugs at the boundary to Stoink’s upper-class neighborhood, but the ruffians there do no more than posture and threaten. Heydricus’ obvious zeal for a fight seems to add some credence to their better instincts, and the thugs simply melt away into the night.
One of the youngest children begins to cry during the short walk, and it is Heydricus that soothes the boy, playing guessing games with gold pieces, a masterwork dagger and his enchanted cloak.
Once at the lord’s manor, they settle in and Dabus summons a heroes’ feast to feed the children—“the real breakfast of champions,” he assures them. The children, suspicious at first, dig in and eat like they have never seen celestial food brought directly from the table of a god before. While they eat, Prisantha readies herself to transport the group to Cur’ruth.
“Do you mean to keep them all, Heydricus?” Dabus asks.
“I think Reine needs something to do,” Heydricus replies. “The children will be a balm for his grief. Besides, it’s good for adventurers to have children around. It helps us remember why we do all this, don’t you agree?”
----
In Cur’ruth, it is still early evening, and impromptu nursemaids are hastily assembled. The party gathers in the study to determine their next course of action.
“We need the heir’s body,” Heydricus says. “The hag will keep her word, but we still cannot raise the boy ourselves without his corpse.”
“Dabus, you will watch the children,” Prisantha says. “Leave the Lord to us. Heydricus, we got into this mess, let’s settle this the way we started it. You and I.”
-----
Before they leave, Heydricus spies Urin running to and fro in the compound, gathering supplies and hastily checking through a scribbled inventory.
“Ywain!” Heydricus yells. “What are you about? Where is Thrommel?”
Urin casts his eyes to the ground, and mumbles a bit before explaining that Thrommel has already gone! Urin was left behind to marshal supplies and was ordered to make double time until he caught up with the column.
“Thrommel set on the march before his supplies were set in order?” Heydricus asks, hardly daring to believe it.
“He said that freedom for Tenh could not wait, sir. He seemed in a foul mood.”
“Was Crim with him?”
“I don’t know. The prince yelled at me, and left. I have been so busy . . .”
But Heydricus is already gone. He storms into the Liberator’s quarters and yells for Jespo, but receives no reply.
“Good.” Heydricus says to himself. “Good.”
Wealsun 17, CY 593
45: Charity is a dangerous business, after all.
The Pholtan fixes the child in his gaze and says, “Boy, what did I tell you about dinner?”
“Yes, sir.” The boy wrinkles his nose and takes a mouthful of the cannibal’s stew.
-----
Before the boy can finish his gelatinous stew, Heydricus appears in the room, next to where the old woman was standing just moments before. Multiple images of him flicker and dance in and out of space, each one resplendent in glistening celestial armor, with Heydricus’ holy symbol of his office – the Liberator’s Spear – clutched in its hand. The spear is decorated with two blue pinions, and one red, symbolizing the two lesser and one greater Boneheart members he has killed. Behind him Dabus towers—his naturally tall frame exaggerated to over nine feet in height, he radiates Tritherion’s might. Prisantha, of course, is invisible.
“Well met, gentle souls,” Heydricus says in his most soothing tones, as if the sudden appearance of adventurers lit up head-to-toe with such sickeningly good enchantments could be anything other than trouble for extra-planar slave-traders. Despite Heydricus’ ploy, there will be no parley.
One of the “goblin children” sitting directly across the table from where the party appears begins to sprout hair and elongate, until it is stretched out at its full length, its forepaws on the table, and its teeth snapping at Heydricus’ mirror images. Gobbets of thick spittle fly from the flapping lips of the creature as it gnashes at the air.
“Headmaster, what are you teaching your children?” Heydricus asks, false surprise in his voice. The Headmaster for his part, appears sincerely shocked and terrified. His mouth opens and closes, as if he means to say something stern, but cannot for the life of him bring anything to mind.
At that moment, the goblin sitting directly in front of the Headmaster transforms, and with its massive bulk multiplying and expanding in an instant, the Headmaster is crushed against the wall, and grimaces as his ribcage is shattered like the last time the canary got a quickened extended righteous might. As it settles back on its haunches, the devil-wolf grinds the man into the wall, then springs forward with a hellish howl, plowing over and through the terrified, screaming children; it leaps half onto the giant-sized Dabus, and half onto the long table. The table collapses under the strain, and the creature falls onto its side, trapping one child beneath its shoulder.
Dabus exhales deeply, and is filled with a rush of potency and strength, courtesy of Tritherion. Dabus drives his spear into the front shoulder of the wolf-thing fighting him, and begins to back the howling creature away from the party.
Prisantha casts hold monster on the hideous female humanoid, freezing her in place, then snaps off a mass suggestion to the children, “Quick, go into the other room, it’s not safe for you here.” As the children scramble to obey, a wolf-thing lashes out at one of them, and kills the child. The wolf on Dabus bites into him, disrupting his heal spell. The wolf attacking Heydricus’ mirror images turns to the softer target, and does its level best to rip Dabus’ spine out. Fortunately, the badly wounded cleric is saved by his circlet of minor displacement, but he is badly wounded and cannot last much longer. Heydricus lays into the wolf on Dabus’ back, wounding the creature, but cannot protect his friend fully from the fiend’s vicious rage.
Prisantha says, “I wish Dabus were standing behind me,” and in an instant, it is so. With Dabus out of harm’s way for the moment, she casts a greater dispelling on one of the creatures, but produces no discernable effect. One of the wolves leaps toward Pris, knocking her to the ground and pinning her beneath its bulk as it lashes out at Dabus. Fortunately, the creature’s first impact slams Dabus’ head back far enough to put him out of reach of the snapping jaws, and the cleric is saved for a second time by blind luck.
Thanking Tritherion for his reprieve, Dabus heals himself, and levels his spear. The wolf-thing facing Heydricus takes stock of its rapidly worsening predicament, and flees from the room, following the children’s path. High-pitched screams of terror are heard through the doorway.
Prisantha squirms out from underneath her bestial blanket, and attempts to polymorph the creature. Unfortunately, her spell fails to take effect, but the wolf-thing becomes distracted for a moment attempting to locate the invisible wizardess, providing Heydricus the opening he needs. Heydricus focuses all his might into one single powerful thrust and impales the creature cleanly on his spear. As the beast dies, Heydricus’ pinions are seen to be all red.
The party chases after the fleeing monster, and finds it distracted by the scrambling children. In an instant, it joins its companions, and after Dabus is hasted, the party sets about emptying every curative spell and potion they possess into the wounded children. They are successful, and manage to save all but two of them. Unfortunately, the Headmaster is dead by the time they arrive, his soul gone on to Pholtus for Judgement.
-----
The group faces the held hag. Assuming that their foe will have sense enough to come in out of the rain, they dispel the enchantment, hoping to parley. But she is either legendarily confident or simply stupid, and the disgusting woman leaps at Prisantha, blunting her hooked fingers against the enchantress’ stoneskin.
Prisantha speaks a quickened suggestion, “Tell us where the soul of the noble child is, and we will let you return to your home plane.”
Suddenly convinced of the soundness of the idea, the hag stops trying to rip Prisantha in two and says simply, “They all live in the walls of my lair.”
Heydricus faces the wretched woman. “Give us the soul of the Talinth heir, and we will let you live.”
The hag regards him cannily. “I only give what cannot be bought. So is it now, so has it been since my ancestors sprang whole from the dreams of mortals.” The foul creature’s breath reeks of carrion and disease. “For his soul, I demand a gift. I crave a magic item. What have you that will enhance my strength?”
Heydricus takes a quick mental appraisal of his magic items, and removes an amulet from around his neck. “I have no such thing, but you will be well pleased with this. It will harden your skin, and protect you from harm.”
The hag takes the amulet, and favors the party with a sly smile. “This will do. I will go and come back for you with the child.”
“No,” Heydricus says. “You will take us to your lair.”
“You would not survive the trip,” she sneers. “Do you propose to change by your word the fashion of a trade that has been followed for millennia? Would you undo the rules that bind the very Dukes of Hell, or the demonic Princes? Friends, come to your senses. I can be trusted.” The hag bares her gapped teeth in a parody of a smile. “After all, do you suppose the fiends would suffer me to live if I broke my word?” The party seems to accept this explanation, so she continues. “Return to this place, in one year and one day. I will be here with your soul.”
“In one year and one day, we could kill you and find your lair,” Heydricus laughs. “You will return tonight, or I will forget our bargain.”
“I do not take orders from merchandise!” the hag sneers.
“Merchandise?” Heydricus says. What is merchandise?”
“Why you are,” she purrs, looking longingly at the assembled group. “You all are.”
Heydricus favors her with a withering glare, and reaches for his spear.
“Very well,” she hisses. “Stay your hand. I will return to this place at the darkest hour tomorrow evening.”
“I’m warning you—don’t betray us.”
“Ridiculous,” the hag scoffs. “Do you have any idea how long it took my kind to gather the trust and esteem we proudly bear? I am good to my word, mortal.”
“What is your name?” Prisantha asks.
“You may call me Dispater,” the hag says with a laugh, as she slowly fades from view.
-----
With the hag gone, Dabus casts cure disease on the worst cases amongst the children, and Heydricus rounds up the younger ones, holding the two smallest ones in his arms, while three others hang from his backpack, and adventurer’s harness. Despite their recent trauma, the children laugh and play with the huge Liberator, tugging at his armor and weapons in a mock battle.
Prisantha watches all this with a distant expression, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.
Two of the older children are not so easily swayed, and announce their intention to take to the streets of Stoink, free at last of the Pholtan Headmaster’s charity.
“I don’t know,” Heydricus says. “The life here is kind of tough. If you join our gang, you’ll eat every day, and be free to roam as you wish . . .”
This seems to convince the children, and after some disgruntled sniffling and boot-stomping, they agree, and the motley parade takes to the streets of Stoink’s worst neighborhoods in the dead of night.
“This . . . that thing,” Dabus says, a cold realization dawning over him. “This is untenable! It trades in souls. This is an extra-planar slave trade in its lowest form!”
“It is,” Prisantha agrees somberly.
“Fantastic!” Dabus says. “I was really starting to wonder what we’d all be up to over the long run! Glorious Tritherion, we heed your call!”
-----
Whether it is the pure strangeness of the group that gives Stoink’s criminal class pause, or the fact that the group looks profoundly unconcerned with the danger, their journey back to the manor is brief and uneventful. They are confronted by a group of armed thugs at the boundary to Stoink’s upper-class neighborhood, but the ruffians there do no more than posture and threaten. Heydricus’ obvious zeal for a fight seems to add some credence to their better instincts, and the thugs simply melt away into the night.
One of the youngest children begins to cry during the short walk, and it is Heydricus that soothes the boy, playing guessing games with gold pieces, a masterwork dagger and his enchanted cloak.
Once at the lord’s manor, they settle in and Dabus summons a heroes’ feast to feed the children—“the real breakfast of champions,” he assures them. The children, suspicious at first, dig in and eat like they have never seen celestial food brought directly from the table of a god before. While they eat, Prisantha readies herself to transport the group to Cur’ruth.
“Do you mean to keep them all, Heydricus?” Dabus asks.
“I think Reine needs something to do,” Heydricus replies. “The children will be a balm for his grief. Besides, it’s good for adventurers to have children around. It helps us remember why we do all this, don’t you agree?”
----
In Cur’ruth, it is still early evening, and impromptu nursemaids are hastily assembled. The party gathers in the study to determine their next course of action.
“We need the heir’s body,” Heydricus says. “The hag will keep her word, but we still cannot raise the boy ourselves without his corpse.”
“Dabus, you will watch the children,” Prisantha says. “Leave the Lord to us. Heydricus, we got into this mess, let’s settle this the way we started it. You and I.”
-----
Before they leave, Heydricus spies Urin running to and fro in the compound, gathering supplies and hastily checking through a scribbled inventory.
“Ywain!” Heydricus yells. “What are you about? Where is Thrommel?”
Urin casts his eyes to the ground, and mumbles a bit before explaining that Thrommel has already gone! Urin was left behind to marshal supplies and was ordered to make double time until he caught up with the column.
“Thrommel set on the march before his supplies were set in order?” Heydricus asks, hardly daring to believe it.
“He said that freedom for Tenh could not wait, sir. He seemed in a foul mood.”
“Was Crim with him?”
“I don’t know. The prince yelled at me, and left. I have been so busy . . .”
But Heydricus is already gone. He storms into the Liberator’s quarters and yells for Jespo, but receives no reply.
“Good.” Heydricus says to himself. “Good.”
Zaruthustran
The tingling means it’s working!
Re: Chapter 45
Brilliant! (contact), you do know how to turn a phrase.
-z
ps: that bit with the hag was C R E E P Y creepy.
(contact) said:
Brilliant! (contact), you do know how to turn a phrase.
-z
ps: that bit with the hag was C R E E P Y creepy.
dpdx
Explorer
Okay, I'm confused on multiple fronts.
First, I thought that Jespo was the only one going with Thrommel. Which is why I said I was glad Thrommel didn't "bleed off the party members." I like Elijah and Dabus especially, and would hate to see them 'written out' of the plot, but maybe there's a metagame reason why this is happening.
Secondly, what was up with that room? The way understand it, the Pholtan priest was real, as were most of the children. However, some of the children were monsters in another form, and that hag turned out to be the "nursemaid." The priest, however, did not know that the nursemaid and some of the children were evil, right? What am I missing?
First, I thought that Jespo was the only one going with Thrommel. Which is why I said I was glad Thrommel didn't "bleed off the party members." I like Elijah and Dabus especially, and would hate to see them 'written out' of the plot, but maybe there's a metagame reason why this is happening.
Secondly, what was up with that room? The way understand it, the Pholtan priest was real, as were most of the children. However, some of the children were monsters in another form, and that hag turned out to be the "nursemaid." The priest, however, did not know that the nursemaid and some of the children were evil, right? What am I missing?
Barastrondo
First Post
dpdx said:
Here's the way I see it:
Elijah, C'min and Elenthal are going to Nevond Nevnend, remember? They're not going with Thrommel, of course; they're trying to get there before him, so he doesn't get killed by wandering too close to the walls too soon. (contact) isn't trying to write them out, just shift them into a different group for a while, like the giant-hunting. At least he better not be trying to write out Elijah... grrr.
I dunno about Dabus, though. I think (contact) is getting his drow ranger and his human cleric of Tritherion confused again.
I'm thinking the Pholtan didn't really know he had a hag and barghests in his little orphanage. Pity he's not in much of a state to confirm or deny his ignorance at the moment.
Man, I love Heydricus' new spear decorations. I can't wait until it comes time to try adding another one; the Boneheart is a great group of adversaries There's just really nothing like having a group of villains of singular power and known, finite numbers to say "checklist of people who need killing." It really gets everyone involved, you know? My players are always so happy when they get to strike off another name...
...and so alarmed when they find out that one of those names isn't as crossed out as they thought it was...
