The Liberation of Tenh (updated April 24)

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Originally posted by (contact):
When they discuss the fate of the dead Liberators, it becomes clear that Heydricus will not accept their fate. He vows out loud (a gesture of Power in Mount Celestia) to do whatever it takes to return the two deadliest women in his life back to life.

Taking a vow in the Seven Heavens has the effect of putting the oath-swearer under a geas spell.

Elijah, should have become a spectre, but her corpse was transferred to the Seven Heavens before the negative-material energy could do its dirty work.

Thus, when the two Liberators return to the prime, they cannot take Elijah with them for fear of loosing her forever to the Cold Grip of Undeath.

 

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Coldeven 11

20: Storming the gates of Heaven

Heydricus rests and examines his wounds. A young Pholtan priest approaches him, and calls upon Pholtus to return Heydricus to his proper state, in accordance with the Laws of the Body. In exchange, Heydricus keeps his opinions to himself as the young cleric drones on about Obedience, the Law and Servitude.

After an hour or so (the sun never moves from its position at the top of the sky), Tau exits the Pholtan shrine. He looks distracted, and reports that Pholtus will not restore Prisantha and Elijah to life. Tau fends off Heydricus' questions about his divine interview.

Two of the shrine clerics exchange knowing glances, and whisper something to each other about "the Question".

Heydricus takes Tau aside and explains that hope is not yet lost. King Belvor of Furyondy promised the party a favor in exchange for their information about Thrommel's capture. Heydricus intends to collect that favor in the form of a pair of resurrections. Elijah's status as an undead monstrosity awaiting a negative material infusion prevent her from leaving the outer planes, so Tau beseeches the Prelate of the shrine to care for her body until help can be summoned. Prisantha's body is bundled and prepared for travel.

Tau plane shifts the two childhood friends, hoping to arrive back in the prime material somewhere near Furyondy. As fate (or Pholtus) would have it, the duo appears on a dusty road near Veluna, the duo's old stomping grounds.

After rummaging through their mostly empty coin purses, Heydricus points out that an old friend of his lives in Veluna who might put them up for the night.

The two adventurers walk into the bustling city, bloody, dirty and burdened by a person-sized bundle slung over the shoulder of the huge sorcerer. Traveling East from the marketplace, they find themselves in a well-to-do neighborhood composed of small residences surrounding larger villas. Heydricus leads them to one of the villas, a modest home by Chendl's standards, but palatial to the eyes of the Wintershiven priest.

A young woman, petite and red-headed, is working in the flower-garden that surrounds the approach to the main house. She stands up and squints at the travelers, silhouetted against the afternoon sun. When they get closer, the woman barks out "Heydricus! Gods alive, I thought you were dead!"

"Hello, Alli," Heydricus says in his warmest voice.

"I'd hoped you were dead, anyway, you rat-loving sloth merchant!" Alli grips her garden shears in the unmistakable pose of a seasoned back alley knife-fighter.

"It's good to see you too," Heydricus says as he drops Prisantha's body into the freshly planted flowers. "Is Millia home?"

"She's never home when you come calling, you fatherless dog-scratching vagrant." Alli growls as she steps forward.

Alli pauses and squints at the bundle in her garden. "Is that . . . Gods, Heydricus . . . is that a corpse?"

"Not for long," Heydricus cheerily replies, and walks up to the porch. "Come along, Tau, I'll fix us some bitter-sweet water."

"The hell you will!" Alli starts to say when she is interrupted by a new arrival.

A tall, raven-haired woman, older than Heydricus and beautiful in that way that young women can never be, is standing over the body of Prisantha. She is dressed in finery, and her jewelry is expensive, if subtly stated. She stares at the sorcerer and quietly adjusts the neckline of her dress, lowering it ever so slightly. "Heydricus," she says, and allows the name to linger on her tongue.

"Millia," Heydricus says with a smile. He bounds off the porch in one sure stride and takes her hand in his, kissing it. "Allow me to introduce my companion Tau of Wintershiven, Loremaster of Pholtus, Mendicant of the Blinding Light."

"You're filthy." Millia states in a distant and distracted voice as she stares into Heydricus' amber eyes.

"Ah, you remember." Heydricus whispers. He turns back to the porch and moves inside. "Alli," he begins in an authoritative tone, "take the body into the stables, but for the love of Tritherion don't unpack it. Tau, let's get cleaned up. Millia, it is my most fervent wish that you will join us for dinner. Shall we say," Heydricus looks at the sun, "sevenish?"

Coldeven, the 12th

Alli confronts Heydricus once more in the morning, warning him that Millia's new betrothed is an Upright and Industrious man, and certainly won't stand for any of Heydricus' rooting about. She also points out the dubious pedigree of Heydricus' line, and implies rather strongly that he fornicates with lower beasts. Heydricus, for his part, assures her that the dagger she has concealed under her shift won't be necessary, as he plans to leave directly, and would she be a dear and pack a trail-meal for two?

As Heydricus and Tau are taking their leave, and as Heydricus is exchanging soft words with Millia under the withering gaze of Alli, a young gentleman of Veluna arrives, replete in a black, stiff, reactionary tunic, and the ruffled collar of the financial servitors of the court. He is also sporting a pair of jealous eyes that he is boring into Millia and Heydricus, and a sextet of Royal Guardsmen.

"Toban! At last!" Alli cries, with a triumphant glance at Heydricus. To the guards she says, "You can find the victim in the stables, officer! This will teach you to come nosing about your betters you wretch!" This last was, of course directed towards Heydricus. "No offense, Father," she says to Tau.

"Right!" The Guards-Captain barks. You two," he says pointing at Heydricus and Tau, "stay where you are! You," he says to his guards, "search the stables!"

Heydricus' eyes narrow and he steps off the porch, throwing back his cloak and revealing the platinum pin identifying him as a Knight of Veluna. "What is the meaning of this, Captain?"

The Royal Guard's mouth falls open, and he steps back a pace. "I . . . Sir! My Lord! I was investigating a report of a murder, sir!"

Heydricus stands up to his full height. "Do you imply that a Knight of the Realm would commit a murder, Captain?"

"No sir!" The guard barks.

"Then, your work here is done."

"Yes, sir!"

"Captain," Heydricus begins, "I commend you on your zeal to serve the Crown. My companion and I require transport to Chendl. It is a matter of the greatest urgency. Find and commandeer a passenger coach, then return here at once."

"Yes, your Lordship, at once!" The guard barks. "Men! With me! To the market!"

Heydricus looks at Tau, "That was fortunate."

A few moments later, the guard arrives with a cart and buggy, driven by an older Velunan male, who seems thoroughly unexcited by this surprising opportunity to serve the Crown. As the coach pulls away from the villa, with Prisantha's ripening corpse secured to the baggage rack, Heydricus watches the scowling and cursing Alli, the frightened and furious Toban, and Millia, a curious dream-like half smile on her face.

"It's good to have friends, Tau." Heydricus says. "Now, I stole this wine from the house, what say you we get drunk?"

The coach arrives in Chendl late the next evening. Heydricus and Tau direct the driver to the High Court, and instruct him where he might find payment for his day's journey. That settled, Heydricus leads Tau through the maze-like interior of the place, looking for Esril.

They find the swordswoman of Chendl engaged in her devotions to Kelanen. She is briefed and sets out to find Belvor. The King is still in his night-gown when he hustles into the training room.

"My Lord the King," Heydricus begins, "I have come for the favor you promised . . ."

Heydricus and Tau, Royal Writ in hand, walk to the Temple of Tritherion and approach Halrond with the Entreaty and Command, signed by the King himself, to "withhold no effort in the cause of the Crown, as commanded by your lawful ruler, to resurrect the Lady Prisantha, and her common companion Elijah".

Halrond reads the letter, and marks the serious look on Heydricus' face. "Very well," he addresses his under-priests, "prepare the body for resurrection." Halrond turns back to Heydricus and Tau. "We will have her back before full moon. And your Elijah tomorrow. Prepare an assault squad."

Tau is left in Chendl, but Heydricus is needed to guide the Tritherion band as they plane shift Mount Celestia, knocking petitioners from their path, and raiding the shrine to Law. Heydricus, while a bit shocked at the commando tactics chosen by Halrond, is nonetheless impressed. No one is harmed in the careful raid, and by the time Heydricus' head can clear from the plane shift back to the prime, Elijah is sitting up groggily, asking for water.

Heydricus, as excited as he's been since Zinvellon died, exclaims to himself, "Tritherion kicks ass!"

-----

Next: The Iuzians Get What's Coming, and Mayhem Ensues: 35 beings are sliced into ribbons, bludgeoned to death, fully incinerated, flayed severely, roasted with Holy Napalm, and fried with electrical force! Will any of those be Liberators? Stay tuned!

 

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Coldeven 14

21: Finding Iuzians and handing them pain.

With the party united and alive, the motion is carried four-against-naught to find that mage and make him pay for the deaths of Prisantha and Elijah. And Curst of course, Elijah adds after some thought. Right. Make them pay for what they didn't do to the accountant.

The party casts defensive spells on themselves, then uses plane shift and to approach the mines ethereally. Once there, they spot the Artificer Suel, surrounded by the Seven Terrors, hard at work in a large storage room that has been converted into a Necromantic workshop. The vast majority of the space is covered by an arcane circle, and the circle itself is filled with corpses, strung and stitched together with intestine thread and skin cloth. Readying themselves in the etheric, the party shifts into reality . . .

. . . and Heydricus attacks from behind and slices Suel into three separate pieces. Just like that. Anticlimactic? You bet, but that rat-bastard had it comin'.

Tau focuses the Blinding Light of Pholtus into a burst of positive energy, and scatters the Seven Terrors to the wind. A quick detect magic spell reveals that Suel was carrying no less than four magical wands, some leather wrist-bands, a cloak, a ring, an amulet, a scroll and three potions. Heydricus starts looting the corpse, and apparently, the sight of the Seven Terrors fleeing for their unlives was enough to set off the alarm, as the main doors leading out of the room are flung open by a pair of hill giants.

The giants storm into the room, and start swatting PCs with morningstars made out of logs and track spikes. Stonefisters come screaming into the room from two other doors, and either take up positions on a cat-walk overlooking the room or charge into melee.

Tau is quick to act, and as Heydricus starts laying waste around him with his sword, the cleric of Pholtus summons three celestial bears to the catwalk to do battle with the barbarians up there. Prisantha targets a group of ettins coming in behind the Men of the Fist and charms the first one stupid enough to put his heads through the door. Elijah moves out, and tries to keep the giants from reaching her friends, to little avail.

The party is cornered, and while a flame strike from Tau combined with the steel of Heydricus and Elijah stop the first wave, the second is not far behind. More hill giants lumber in, along with another pair of ettins. Prisantha protects her flank with a grease spell.

Tau's bears begin throwing Stonefisters off of the balcony with surprising regularity, but the Men of the Stone Fist are no slouches when it comes to slaughtering helpless children . . . er, summoned bears. The Stonefisters finish off the last bear with the help from a magic missile spell flying in from the door leading off the balcony. The missiles have the appearance of ghostly crossbow quarrels radiating a black light and dripping with ichor.

As the PCs fight a desperate struggle not to be overrun by giants and barbarians, a withered, desiccated figure limps in onto the catwalk, flanked on either side by thirteen-foot-tall Stonefist warriors. He is shriveled and wrinkly, his eyes sunken deep into his sockets and glowing with a red, feral light. His old, threadbare robes are licking with a purple, dancing flame that seems to make his bodyguards uncomfortable. Martak the Undying, may I present the Liberators of Tenh, avowed enemy of liches everywhere.

From his point of view, Martak can only see Heydricus, as the remaining Liberators are directly underneath the walkway. He knows they are there, because he can see the giants attacking them, but he cannot target them with spells, without harming his fodder, er . . . junior associates. So be it. You don't get to be six hundred and seventy without learning enough patience to wait thirty seconds or so before blasting off all your fireballs.

And besides, that's what cone of cold is for. Martak calls the withering storm of ice and frigid air, and directs it at Heydricus, who is at the moment standing alone, having run out of giants to kill.

Did I mention Heydricus kicks ass?

The cone of cold surrounds and freezes the Tenha sorcerer, leaving his skin frostbit and his hair covered in ice. Martak narrows his glowing red eyes in surprise and displeasure. Someone just survived his cone of cold. There is a first time for everything, they say.

Well, thank Iuz for lightning bolt.

Tau steps out from under the catwalk, and invokes the name of his god, summoning another positive energy burst. The burst nearly repulses the lich, and Martak screams out the command for his giants to "kill that priest!"

Prisantha, for her part, sets a dispel magic in the air near where she could hear the high pitched command. The purple flames disappear from his body, and Martak contradicts himself for the last time: "Kill whoever cast that spell first!"

The giants and Stonefisters hasten to obey, and in the process turn their backs on Elijah and Heydricus, all in all, not a healthy thing to do. The battlefield is soon littered with bodies, giant and Stonefister alike, and Elijah is finding it difficult to find her footing in all the blood.

A pair of dire wolves lope into the room, their tongues lolling out of their mouths. They circle the fight, looking for openings.

Martak, as promised, arcs a lightning bolt from his fingertips hoping to incinerate the upstart giant (Heydricus is 12' tall when enlarged) in a storm of electrical destruction. Unfortunately for the lich, Heydricus manages to leap out of the way, avoiding the worst of it.

Elijah backs away from the melee to tend to her own grevious wounds, when she is suddenly struck from behind! Melting out of the shadows is a gnoll, a hyena-headed humanoid, standing a full seven feet tall wearing studded leather armor and wielding a dire flail. He mutters, "I'll make this hurt," as he lashes Elijah with the dual heads of his weapon. She takes a step back and cuts him neatly across the chest, too badly wounded for pithy rejoinders.

Meanwhile, Tao concentrates on his faith and strikes Martak with the purifying flame of Pholtus. A milky, whitish flame leaps into being, covering the lich and burning him terribly. Worse yet, it does not extinguish itself, but continues to burn him with righteousness.

Martak looks through the large double doors into the hallway beyond, and screams "Ra-Mohn! Don't just stand there, fight them!" Tau follows the liches' gaze, and thinks he might see a faint outline where an invisible creature could be standing. Following Prisantha's lead, he casts dispel magic, revealing the form of a massive figure, wearing full plate armor and carrying a disturbingly large two-handed morningstar.

His armor is marked with the holy symbol of Iuz. Ra-Mohn is humanoid, but covered in black scales. A pair of bat-like wings protrude from his back, and a row of small horns line his face.

To Tau's eyes, he looks diabolical, but Heydricus knows better. Memories of the fight with Lareth in the fens outside of the Moathouse come to mind, and Heydricus recognizes where the being's reptilian features come from: His black dragon father.

No doubt, Ra-Mohn would have been a fearsome opponent. Had he received an opportunity to use his divinely-granted gifts in battle, surely the Iuzians would have won. As things played out, however, once Tau's dispel magic revealed the lurking priest, Prisantha promptly feebleminded him.

Ra-Mohn suddenly forgets what the big, black stick he was carrying is for, and sits down to examine the shine on his boots a little more closely.

As Ra-Mohn suddenly finds himself exploring the axiom ignorance is bliss, the gnoll lashes out at Elijah, raking both heads of his dire flail across her torso, shredding skin and breaking bones. Elijah falls to the ground with a sharp cry, her life's blood oozing forth.

Heydricus, enraged, finishes off the giant he has been whittling down, and with the same mighty stroke, slices one of the dire wolves almost completely in two. The Master Inquisitor howls in agony and grief, and in a weird barking voice curses Heydricus and challenges him.

Heydricus turns and starts striding toward the gnoll, lashing out as he does so at the second dire wolf, severing its spine and killing it instantly. He takes a giant-step (apologies to Coltraine), and strikes at the Master Inquisitor, rolling not just one, but a double critical, smiting the torturer and imbeds his sword in the gnoll's chest, by way of his forehead.

As the grease spell dissipates, Prisantha rushes over to Heydricus' side. Martak, able for the first time to actually see all of the adventurers attacking him, unleashes his ace-in-the-hole, a chain lightning. He targets Heydricus as the primary recipient, with bursts arcing out toward the other PCs. Elijah and Tau are sorely wounded, and in Tau's case, it proves to be the second to last straw.

The last straw being a Stonefister greatsword.

Tau and Elijah are both lying (rather uncomfortably) in rapidly-growing pools of their own blood, and Prisantha tells Heydricus "I'm out of spells." Heydricus is debating the moral consequences to abandoning his friends using a teleport spell, when Prisantha decides the issue.

Reaching into Heydricus' backpack, Prisantha removes one of Suel's wands. She points it at the burning lich and mentally closes the gap between the wand's potential and it's effect.

Prisantha fervently hopes she didn't pick the invisibility wand.

A ball of red-hot flame begins at a point just in front of Martak, and spreads until it has engulfed the lich, both of his giant bodyguards and the lone Stonefister remaining on the catwalk. The Man of the Fist probably gave a scream as he fell from his perch, but it was drowned out by Martak's cry of impotent fury, and his desperate attempt to flee the catwalk. Unfortunately, in the confusion, he runs into his massive bodyguard, and is unable to reach the door.

Heydricus is laying about him with his sword, cutting down the remaining Stonefisters and ettins with a gleeful expression on his face. He doesn't verbalize it, but it is obvious to Prisantha that with each blow, he is thinking "Take that! And that!"

Prisantha coolly aims her new favorite wand and sets off another fireball, then another, until the villains on the catwalk are nothing more than smoldering corpses.

As the last of the Stonefisters fall, Heydricus looks at his two fallen companions, and after a moment's hesitation, rushes to Tau's side. He opens a healing potion, and pours it down the cleric's throat, breathing a sigh of relief as Tau sits up. Tau examines Elijah, and is able to cure her wounds by reminding Pholtus of the Ancient Pact between Priest and Master.

As Tau empties his spell repertoire mending Elijah's broken bones, knitting the tears in her skin, and restoring her lost blood, Heydricus shuts the large double doors to the room, and begins searching the battlefield for magical loot.

Tau peeks out the doors and sees that Stonefisters are mustering in the courtyard outside. The party determines to do the following: Prisantha can teleport only two other characters to safety. Elijah, of the four of them, has the best chances to escape on foot. Thus, Elijah drinks a potion of spiderclimbing and is made invisible. Within moments, the Stonefisters begin battering down the doors and Prisantha whisks her men away on the wings of a spell. Elijah waits until the Stonefister's initial battle-rage dies down, then sneaks into the dungeons beneath Cur'ruth.

Guarding the entrance to the Tenha mines (facing the Tenha, of course), Elijah discovers a pair of disturbing things. Statues, or so it would seem, made from men. Many different men, apparently - an arm from one, the torso of another, and head of another still. Fortunately, they do not spot Elijah (if they are, in fact, animate, and not some ghoulish ruse to frighten the Tenha into obedience).

Elijah creeps invisible and unheard through the mines, observing the gentle Tenha as they go about their daily tasks. She finds the Aiman, and whispers into his ear "All the hill giants are dead. A score of the Fisters are dead. Suel is dead. The Master Inquisitor is dead, Ra-Mohn might as well be dead, and Martak 'the Undying' needs a new name.

"We'll go back tomorrow for the rest of them, but you had better get your people into hiding, in case some drunken scumbag decides to go on a killing spree. We'll scry you, and tell you when it's safe."

-----

Next: Cur'ruth falls to the Liberators of Tenh! . . . Unless it doesn't.

 

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Coldeven 15

22: "Hokaay! I re-looaded!"

That evening, expecting to sleep the untroubled sleep of the vindicator, Heydricus finds himself having a strange dream. In it, he is watching Halrond, who is dressed in unfamiliar ceremonial robes and leading a ritual service in a part of the temple Heydricus has never been allowed in. In the dream, Heydricus knows that the ceremony, including its locations and trappings, are very secret, and quite rare. Somehow, he is permitted, no -- commanded to be present. While Heydricus is not in the room, he is watching the event, and strangely enough, Halrond and his under-priests are all directing their attention toward a pile of adventuring gear: Heydricus' gear.

Waking from the dream, the huge hero slowly readjusts to his surroundings. Tau is up and reading, Pris is practicing drawing her feeblemind components from the series of pouches she wears across her chest, and Elijah is staring at him. "Tea's ready," the hard-bitten ranger says as she gets up and leaves the cave.

"I need to go to Chendl." Heydricus states.

This causes a brief flurry of objections and arguments. What about the mines? What about the possibility that your men are alive? Heydricus explains that he received a vision from Tritherion in the night. When a God commands you to jump, you don't say "not now". (Unless that god is Iuz, and then you say "What? I'm sorry, I couldn't make that out. Did you say 'put my priesthood to the sword'?")

But weighing the urgency with which he awoke against the possibility that some of his men might survive puts Heydricus in the mood to compromise: We'll attack Cur'ruth in the morning, and I'll teleport to Chendl this afternoon.

Tau quietly suggests that before they go, they consult with Pholtus. The party puts their heads together and comes up with a list of questions for the Big Guy. The Liberators are primarily concerned with the lich Martak, and the possibility that they may not find his phylactery. The fate of the Seven Terrors is a concern, as is the disposition of any remaining constructs.

Tau sits comfortably, chants a few paragraphs of the Wintershiven Civil Code to set the mood, and casts his commune.

He begins with "Once he reforms, does Martak plan to stage an immediate assault here?", to which Pholtus replies,

"Tau of Wintershiven, is this how you greet your Lord and Master?"

Tau feels the Scolding Voice of Pholtus throughout his whole being, and goes silent. The other Liberators look at one another, and politely wait for Tau to continue. After the spell ends, Tau looks up, pale and shaken. The scholar of Wintershiven, who fought the first real battle of his life last night, reports the following:

Martak will reform, but currently does not exist. He will not reform sooner than three days from now. His phylactery is within a one-mile radius of the mines, and is hidden well. The Stonefisters are ready to defend the mines, but fortunately the constructs are not under direct control. There are less than five constructs remaining. None of Heydricus' captured followers live, but the Cur'ruth Tenha themselves are in no immediate danger.

A mixed bag, if mostly good news. Many of the party's suspicions were confirmed. But the last news may very well be the worst. When asked "Are the spectres in control," the reply from Pholtus was "No, those who command the spectres are."

The party prepares themselves, and with Elijah in the lead, reverts to their traditional ToEE approach - sneak in through the back door. The Tenha-controlled section of the mines is empty of people, as the Aiman promised.

Tau uses his staff to search for undead, and it indicates that while there are undead nearby, they are above the party and to the south - the direction of last night's battle.

As they approach the guard room where Elijah spotted the two strange fleshy constructs, the party prepares itself with magic. Heydricus casts haste and enlarges both himself and Elijah (much to her delight), while Tau blesses the group and Prisantha causes mirror imagesof herself to spring into being.

Thus readied, the Liberators of Tenh charge into the guardroom, striking the golems with fire, and unleashing a whirlwind of sword blows down upon . . . the statues. The 'golems' wither and fall apart under the assault of the heroes, revealing them to be nothing more than fleshy sculptures, placed here as scarecrows to keep curious Tenha from the Iuzian quarters.

The door they guard is a thick stone door, but it proves to be no match for Heydricus' magically enhanced strength. The giant-sized Liberator puts his shoulder to the door, shattering it's hinges and propelling him into the room beyond . . .

. . . where he is immediately attacked by a pair of real flesh golems! Elijah leaps into the room beside him, preventing either Tau or Pris to get much of a look at the battle. Tau covers their back and readies healing spells, bolstering Elijah, who is struck once and again by huge fleshy fists.

Fortunately, these golems don't seem to be made very well, and after a few sword swipes, they fall in pieces to the stone floor. The party examines the door beyond, this one only of wood, and Heydricus confidently smiles over his shoulder as he rushes the portal, shattering it into splinters with one mighty blow.

What happens next can only be termed a massacre.

The party finds themselves at the base of a long stairwell leading up. They charge up the stairs and emerge in the large circular chamber desecrated and made unholy to Iuz. (The very same chamber where they suffered their worst defeat in Tenh at the hands of Suel the Artificer.)

This time, they are in the material plane, as are all of their foes: twenty Men of the Stone Fist stand in small groups around the room, a few of which are sharing some sort of unholy intimacy with an Iuzian priest. A handful of ettins guards the far door. A lone spectre slips out of the room through the wall.

Every head in the place has turned to the sound of the door splintering and footsteps pounding up from where no footsteps should come. As the Liberators of Tenh emerge into the room, there is a brief pause that is broken first by one, then ten, then ten more cries of rage as every Stonefister in the room charges the heroes.

Bad call.

With all of the small groups converging on one spot, Tau calms his mind and calls into being a blade barrier. The whirling disk of razor-sharp blades begins at a spot near the center of the room, and spirals outward in a staccato frenzy of sharp smacking sounds, blood-spray and screams of pain. In a gore-spattered instant the spell finally stops expanding near the base of the stairwell, covering the backs of the Stonefisters attacking Heydricus with their companion's viscera.

The pathetic ettins, who had the furthest to charge, are hamstrung, two of them falling into the razor-blade whirlwind, and the other two stumbling clear.

Clear, that is if you call covered in blood and cringing in front of an enlarged, hasted, Heydricus 'in the clear'.

Prisantha slows the combatants on this side of the blade barrier reducing their offensive capability to almost nothing. Elijah and Heydricus chop and slash into their foes with a zeal that could only be described as Cuthbertian.

When Heydricus feels a familiar tingling sensation and suddenly realizes his haste has been dispelled, he looks up across the blade barrier to see the one enemy that didn't charge them. This fellow is a Stonefister to be sure, of Suloise stock like the rest, but he is dressed in the robes of an Iuzian priest, and he just dispelled Heydricus' haste.

"Spellcaster!" Heydricus yells, pointing with his sword toward the back of the room.

Prisantha calmly pulls out one of Suel's scrolls, and reads the cloudkill spell the dire Artificer had meant for her. With a flourish, she directs the cloud of roiling, poisonous gas to congeal around the priest, choking him and the Stonefisters surrounding him, and turning the skin of their corpses black.

A pair of Stonefisters raise their hands in surrender, and back away from Heydricus and Elijah, only to walk into the blade barrier. The surviving Fisters turn tail and flee, albeit at half their normal rate. The only survivors are those who were prevented by the slow spell from ever getting too near the melee.

As Tau heals Elijah's wounds, the group watches the surviving Stonefisters -- four from an original twenty-one -- run at a comically retarded pace. In no hurry, the party edges around their own deadly spell-effect areas, and follows the slowed barbarians.

The fleeing men lead the Liberators through the top-level of the complex and finally come to ground in a chamber just to the south of the catwalk that Martak burned to death on. Carefully stepping over the puddle of sticky purified goo, the party is displeased to note that the victims of yesterday's battle have not been moved.

The Stonefisters retreat into a corner of a long room that is covered on one side by arrow slits. While Heydricus and Elijah try to figure out what "Uthul alaha nam Imsh! Imsh al Skurge alaha!" means, and convince the Fisters to surrender like civilized barb . . . well, give up their weapons, the rest of the group have a look through the arrow slits.

As if the morning hadn't been strange enough already, Pris and Tau see another score of Stonefisters trying to build siege weapons. Siege weapons? Who ever heard of barbarians laying siege to their own fort?

"No matter," Prisantha begins as she removes Suel's wand of fireballs from the hem of her dress. "This will discourage them."

And four fireballs later, she is proven right, as the Men of the Fist flee into the rising sun. As the light gets better (partially due to flaming siege towers) the group can see that the Stonefister tent city is nearly gone, having been burned and sacked during the night.

Heydricus finally gets frustrated with his captives, and chases them off, figuring that every minute he spends trying to communicate with them is another minute he can't spend looking at whatever Prisantha is fireballing.

As near as anyone can tell, the following occurred during the night: The two score Stonefisters mustering to attack the party after their midday raid must have split into two drunken groups, fighting one another over the complex.

The 'inside' barbarians versus the 'outside' barbarians, and here come the Liberators of Tenh to kill you all.

-----

Next: Tau discovers a life altering secret, the Liberators travel back to Curruth only to recieve tragic news, with Frightening Overtones and Heydricus follows his dreams into the presence of a God.

 

[(contact)]

Coldeven 15

23: A Step Forward

As their breathing returns to normal, the Liberators watch the barbarians at the gate flee for their lives, ducking fireballs from Prisantha's New Favorite Wand all the way.

The small matter of control over the mines at Curruth has been resolved in the most irrevocable and decisive fashion possible. Their enemy's blood still damp in their hair, the party turns its attention to keeping the vile Iuzian lich Martak in his shallow grave.

Divinations have led them to believe that Martak's phylactery is nearby, but a thorough search turns up only the plundered wealth of Tenh's northern regions. There is not enough looted gold in all of Dorraka to buy a good night's sleep when the soul of the foul necromancer is not at rest.

Tau shifts the group into the border etheric in order to search for hidden chambers. They find a recessed shrine to the Flan pantheon that somehow escaped the notice of the occupying Iuzian priests. In the shrine, Tau is overjoyed to discover a fully-intact book on Flan folk worship, dating back hundreds of years!

In addition to the secret chamber in the westernmost guardian statue, they discover that the easternmost statue is also hollow, but has no passageways connecting it to the rest of the complex. It is apparently only accessed via transportative magic, or inter-planar travel.

The area directly inside the statue's head is connected to a much larger chamber leading back into the cliff face. It is certainly the lair of the lich, and the detritus of many abominable and unspeakable experiments litter the place. While monetary treasure and the lich's spellbooks are readily found, there is no sign of the phylactery. Fortunately, Elijah spots a masterfully concealed hollow in the floor, and after Tau dispels the wards surrounding it, the group finds their target: a small scroll, covered in runes of necromantic evil, inside a sculpture crafted to resemble a human heart. Or a human heart treated to resemble a sculpture. It is difficult to tell.

One flame strike later, problem solved.

• Metagame note: The secret chamber was found only with a DC 30 search check, made on the number, and was warded with both a slay living and a feeblemind spell. Tau was fortunately able to dispel the magical trap.

The other object with the phylactery is a book-- not a spellbook, but obviously magical, and crafted from human skin and bone. Prisantha carefully gathers the fell tome into a cloth and stores it away for later examination.

Heydricus asks Tau and Elijah to keep a watch at Curruth, explaining that he must go to Halrond and the Temple of Tritherion, in accordance with his dream of the previous night. They hope to gather Prince Thrommel from his ressurection-bed and free Jespo from the debtor's gaol. Elijah looks less than pleased at spending time alone with the solemn scholar, but acquiesces easily enough.

This time, Prisantha's teleport is right on the number. She and Heydricus arrive hand in hand outside of Esril's chambers in the King's palace at Chendl. They immediately notice a pungent herbal smell in the air, and looking about, they see that the place is uncharacteristically neat and tidy. Worse, Esril's belongings are not present.

But why on earth would she leave?

The duo move out into the hallways of the Swordplay Wing, and encounter an old laundry-woman cursing at the bundle of clean sheets she has dropped. They question her about Esril's whereabouts, and are answered with a pitying gaze from the woman's rheumy eyes.

"Oh dears," she clucks, "noone's told you? Miss Esril passed away three days ago. I'm so sorry, honey, you must be her relatives come for her things. You missed the wake, shame of it all. Weren't nobody but some of us servants there to mourn her, no proper family. She was always so kind to us, never a cross word."

The old woman goes on to explain that Esril's belongings defaulted to the King, as she died without any known relatives or heirs. When questioned about the circumstances, the woman makes the sign against pox.

"Disease, I'm afraid. Came on so suddenly, and she died within days. The King's own physician was with her, but he couldn't help it. So sad."

Heydricus and Prisantha search Esril's quarters carefully, but find only the much-scrubbed bloodstains on the mattress and headboard as proof that Esril ever lived there. Apparently, the sword-mistress of Chendl bled profusely from her mouth and ears before she passed on. Prisantha grimly removes the charm against disease stuffed between the mattress and the wall, and looks at Heydricus.

"Death is only a condition," he says. "And I'm not convinced that she is dead. After all, the King doted on her. Belvor himself could have cured her disease, if it came to that. Something strange is afoot here."

Prisantha suggests that they wash as much Iuzian blood out of their clothes and hair as they can before presenting themselves at the temple of Tritherion. After turning the clean towels pink, Prisantha and Heydricus use their hats of disguise to finish the job. They quietly slip out of the palace, and into the Chendl night.

The home of Halrond, Prolocutor of Tritherion, is in the Old Post quarter. An edifice dating back to when Furyondy was an outpost of the Great Kingdom, its' open-air sprawls echo the architecture of a much warmer climate. Uncharacteristically, there is an honor-guard standing at attention outside the villa.

"Sir Heydricus!" the watch-captain barks. "We are expecting you."

Apparently, Tritherion has sent dreams to everyone involved, and when Heydricus and Prisantha enter the villa, they find Halrond dressed in his faith's formal uniform along with Dabus, Ruton, and Benwyn, the three other top-ranking clerics of the Tritherion faith in Chendl.

They take Heydricus into an adjoining room where ceremonial objects have been prepared. Halrond explains that Tritherion has instructed him to lead Heydricus in a ritual of investiture, where he is to be made a holy warrior of the faith. It is a calling, not a choice, Halrond explains, and all the priests regard Heydricus with a mixture of jealousy and awe.

Prisantha, meanwhile, is made comfortable on the divan in the open-air courtyard, and fed delicacies. At her request, books from Halrond's personal library are made available, but as the hours drag past with no further sign of Heydricus, Prisantha dozes off.

Fifteen hours from the moment he entered the sanctum, the Lazy Sorcerer of Dyvers emerges, resplendent in silver-gold chainmail and carrying a new sword and long-spear. He stands over the sleeping Prisantha for a moment, and then picks her up in his arms, trying to be gentle, but waking her nonetheless.

Prisantha's eyes flutter open dreamily, and realizing her position, she leaps from Heydricus' arms, blushing deeply. The two are led to a room where a feast has been prepared, although the food has grown cold waiting on the overnight vigil to be complete.

Heydricus eats like a starving man, almost single-handedly emptying the feast table, and relates the tale of his investiture:

As the priests invoked the name of their God, chanting secret passages, Heydricus became aware of a misty world coming into being around him. He found himself at one end of a massive audience hall, its walls lined with Titans standing at military attention. Seated on a throne at the hall's far end was a glowing figure of a man that dwarfed even the Titans, with a long sword across his knees, a spear in his left hand and a scepter in his right. The weapons were covered in dried blood. On the God's right shoulder perched a hawk, and at his right side sat a massive hound. Curled about his left leg was a sea-serpent with its head in his lap.

The visage was perfectly still for what seemed like an eternity, then Tritherion spoke, his words vibrating through Heydricus' very soul. "Heydricus of Dyvers, son of Shamish and Henna, do you wish to come into My service as a Holy Liberator?"

Heydricus replied that he has never wanted anything more.

Tritherion continues, "Heydricus of Dyvers, you may have no family other than Me. Will you now renounce your parents and those that raised you?"

Stunned, the Sorcerer of Dyvers balked, and asks Tritherion does He intend Heydricus to disrespect his own family? The God of Liberty replies that He does not do his family any disrespect, but a Liberator may have no ties before his Duty. Heydricus agrees.

"And do you renounce your nation, your lands and all fealty ties, as you may have no Nation before Me?"

"I do," Heydricus replied.

At that, the sea-serpent unwound itself and undulated across the hall, flowing toward Heydricus like the ocean tide. The serpent seemed to shrink as it grew closer, and began to constrict itself around him, pouring water into Heydricus' lungs. As Heydricus began to black out, sure that he was drowning, the hound crossed the gap between them with a mighty bound, and swallowed the human whole.

 

[(contact)]

Coldeven 16

"And with that," the new Holy Liberator of Tritherion says between mouthfuls, "I came to. My equipment and gear were gone, I was wearing this armor, and I had these new weapons in my hand." Heydricus reflects silently on the fact that he was given the arms of his God, save one-- the scepter of office. To his mind, the meaning is clear: If he is to rule, he must earn it himself.

The other Tritherion priests have listened attentively, enraptured by the tale of the Liberator's meeting with their God. Suddenly, Dabus leaps to his feet and throws himself to the ground before Heydricus.

"Wherever you go," Dabus exclaims, "take me with you! Let me stay by your side and fight your enemies. Let me take the field with you and do battle!"

"Why, of course," Heydricus says with a smile. "I would like nothing better."

If Halrond seems displeased that his number-two man wants to jump ship, the ensuing argument can do nothing to convince Dabus otherwise. Tritherion demands free will in all things, and in the end, Halrond is forced to acquiesce. Dabus will go where Heydricus goes, in the name of Liberty.

After the meal, Prisantha asks about the whereabouts of King Belvor, and is told that he is touring the South of Furyondy, meeting with his Southern Lords, and trying once again to convince them to back his plans for war. Benwyn is dispatched to work her contacts in the Court, and determine Belvor's exact whereabouts. She returns, saying that he is meeting with Baron Butrain in Willip.

In the meantime, Halrond tells the party of a small township situated outside his ancestral estate just west of the Bandit Lands and South of the Occupied Shieldlands. Halrond's cousin has been helping the Church of Tritherion funnel weapons and money out of Furyondy in order to arm and train Shieldlander refugees who might be interested in making a push north to liberate their homeland. Now that the mines of Curruth are producing for the cause of Good again, perhaps Halron (the township, not the cleric) would make a suitable destination for the ore.

Heydricus and Prisantha take their leave, and use her one remaining telelport spell to transport themselves to a roadside inn half an hour's walk from Willip's gates. They head for the city, and run into an able-looking Captain of the Guard by the name of Thurvil. Thurvil tells them that he is a veteran of the Great Crusade, and was part of the forces that liberated Crockport. He witnessed first-hand the depredations that Zinvellon reveled in, and wants to take a minute to shake the hands of the adventurers who killed the vile cleric. His admiration is plain on his battle-scarred face, and Heydricus tells him that he will be issuing a general call to arms. Heydricus explains that he will need one hundred stout fighters to hold the mines at Curruth, and the old campaigner instantly offers to join up, bringing with him as many men of Willip as will come.

Thurvil bustles them past the security-points in the palace, and within minutes, the King has called a recess to his audience, and the Liberators of Tenh are allowed in the room. Belvor sits with Magister Illipse, one of "The Four"-- the arch-wizards charged with advising and protecting the ruler of Furyondy.

Belvor is shocked by the news of Esril's death, and suggests that if the Liberators want her body, the Academy of Magic at Chendl can use a long-forgotten law to order an exhumation.

But the King has news of his own. Thrommel is back, resurrected and well. He is kept in a safehouse near the palace, and awaits only the arrival of the Liberators to be turned over to their safekeeping. Belvor voices again his hope that Thrommel may prove himself through adventure, and relates this shocking secret: When the Prince returns to Chendl, Belvor intends to abdicate his rule, and pass the crown to his son.

Belvor looks Heydricus and Prisantha in the eyes, and tells them that he is not only entrusting them with the life of his son, but the integrity of Furyondian succession as well.

At Belvor's request, Magister Illipse gives Prisantha a secret letter for the Dean of the School of Magic, instructing him to aid her in any way he can, including giving her the requisite gold necessary to pay Jespo Crim's debt. Illipse also belittles Crim, pointing out that once Thrommel becomes King, the boy will have The Four to look after him.

Pleased with their success, Heydricus and Pris spend the night in Willip and take in the play Six Halfling Brothers (a slapstick farce meant to illustrate the halfling virtues of Inquisitiveness and Loyalty), while sitting in the box with Baron Butrain himself.

Prisantha spends the play arguing with the Lord about his non-involvement stance relating to the war up North. She destroys his argument at every point, but he is stubborn, and refuses to abandon his core contention: The King overestimates the threat Iuz poses to Furyondy. Disgusted, Prisantha bids Baron Butrain a cold farewell once the final curtain falls.

The next morning finds the two adventurers back in Chendl, reunited with Dabus and knocking on the office door of the Provost Marshall Reine, with forty thousand pieces of silver, weighed in gold, and Heydricus in the lead.

The Provost-Marshall proves even more obsequious than the party remembered him, and in his haste to convince Heydricus to dine with him at his home, practically forgets to stir the unbelievable amount of cane sugar he pours into his watery tea. Reine obtains a reluctant (but charming nonetheless) acceptance, and drafts the papers releasing Jespo personally.

When a beaming Heydricus and Prisantha arrive to free him, the bumbling summoner practically leaps from his cot to embrace his friends. "I simply knew you would come for me! Oh joyus day, I'm free at last!"

"You smell worse than an ogre's hindquarters, Jespo," Prisantha says, wrinkling her nose. "And this ill-kept beard does not suit you at all."

But Jespo does not seem to hear her, so preoccupied is he over a reunion with Fräs. Tears well up in his eyes as he blathers on about Fräs' goodness, steadfastness and virtue. Heydricus leads the group to the estate of the wealthy widower Maia, and as they near the place, Jespo can make out a high-pitched mewling, and he practically bowls over the seneschal in his mad rush for the door.

He emerges a few seconds later, trying to hold on to a squirming Fräs. Fräs, for her part is trying to leap from his hands.

"Yes, Fräs," Jespo stammers, "Of course I haven't . . . Well, they don't have baths in . . . but it's supposed to be barbaric! . . . Yes, I know your sense of smell is ten times . . . but, Fräs . . ."

The Baroness Maia, is overjoyed to see Heydricus again, and after instructing her servants to see to Jespo's hygiene (using whatever force they deem necessary), the voluptuous mistress of the manse coyly inquires as to how Heydricus plans to spend his afternoon. "Why, right here with you, of course," is the reply.

Pris and Dabus round up Jespo and Fräs, and prepare to leave. Pris casts a dark glance over her shoulder at the licentious Baroness, and boards her carriage with a "hmpf!" and a toss of her hair. Jespo is dropped off at his house, where he takes an inventory of his belongings (all gone) and determines what the Provost-Marshall has left him (nothing).

"Alas, Fräs! We are penniless!"

Pris and Dabus travel to the Court's graveyard and present their disenterral order to a pair of lecherous grave-diggers who ignore Dabus' disapproving gaze and do their level best to look up Pris' skirt at every opportunity.

Meanwhile, Heydricus is woodenly smiling his way through the most excruciating torture of his young life: Dinner with the Provost-Marshall Reine, his hen-pecking miserly wife and his horse-faced daughter. That the lass did not wish to attend the dinner is obvious, but after gazing at Heydricus' noble features and heavily muscled body, she warms up quickly enough.

The dinner is a drawn out water-torture of limp jokes, self-important name dropping and the kind of congratulatory conversation reserved for those public officials who, like Reine, achieved their position only by being the least threatening candidate in the eyes of everyone involved.

Heydricus debates stabbing himself in the knee in order to duck out early, but manages to keep his hands off his sword. As onerous as a dinner with him may be, the Provost-Marshal has a unique position in that he regulates the finances of Furyondy almost completely without oversight.

Thank Tritherion for the crucible of the Temple of Elemental Evil, or else Heydricus' willpower would not have received the temper necessary for him to make it all the way to dessert without committing violence.

-----

Next, Tau suffers a crisis of faith, the Liberators have an Unplesant Reunion, and we find out which one of the Liberators doesn't have amorous designs on Heydricus. The answer may shock you! Read on!

 

[(contact)]

Coldeven 17, CY 593

24: The Long Walk Home

These early summer evenings in Chendl are the province of merry-makers and lovers. The more ribald celebrations that will dominate the later summer weeks have not yet begun, as the late planting is still underway. Chendl's working folk are tucked away in bed, resting up for the coming day, freeing up the streets for the idle rich, and the destitute.

Jespo and Fräs, however are wide awake, taking stock of their missing belongings. Jespo is cursing the name of Reine, while Fräs monitors his language, hissing where appropriate.

"We have nothing. Worse yet, we have no money. Fräs-you are a destitute alley-cat!"

As Fräs is patiently trying to explain to Jespo why money doesn't matter, there is a knock at the door. Jespo walks to the door warily, and calls out "Who goes there?"

"Is this the home of Jespo Crim?" comes a woman's voice.

"Perhaps . . . or perhaps not!" Jespo wittily replies. Fräs hisses.

"Jespo, is that you? It is I, Keriann Croller! Let me in, you rascal!"

-----

Heydricus stands under the lintel of the Provost Marshall's home, pretending to be both sleepy and well-pleased at the same time. He thinks to himself, looking at the wretched family, how much he wishes Lucius Maturin were with him. After finally dragging himself free of the clutching bureaucrat, he picks up his pace and makes a bee-line for Jespo's house.

-----

"Keriann!" Jespo exclaims as he opens the door. "Why, what are you doing in Chendl?"

"I have left the nunnery," Keriann says. "And come to Chendl hoping to see all my friends. Why, where are Heydricus and Prisantha?"

"Ah, Heydricus is having dinner with that man. And Pris is disinterring Esril. She died, you know." Jespo leans forward conspiratorially. "We suspect foul play."

Keriann pauses, regarding Jespo with a curious gleam in her eye. "'That man', Jespo? Who do you mean?"

"Reine, the Provost Marshall. Vile little man."

"Ah. I see. Jespo, why don't we go get dinner together, right now?"

"Keriann my dear, I must regretfully decline. I expect my friends to arrive any minute now, then we are off to Curruth, this very evening."

"Curruth," Keriann mutters.

"But perhaps you might rap upon the kitchen door of the holstery at the corner." Jespo continues, anxious to show off his worldly sophistication. "If you awaken the kitchen servants, you can force them to make you food. Why, I used to do so all the time-just use my name, or Thrommel's."

"Is the Prince with you Jespo?" Keriann asks.

"Thrommel is quite safe, I assure you," Jespo says with a smug twist of his mouth. "But beyond that, I cannot say. Do get some food, dear, and hurry back. Heydricus will be so surprised!"

"Surprised, yes," Keriann whispers distractedly. "Thank you, Jespo. I shall return shortly."

-----

"Open it," Prisantha commands.

Prisantha and Dabus are standing over the coffin of Esril, Sword-Mistress to the Royal Family of Furyondy. The filthy gravediggers hasten to obey, their step lightened no doubt by the gold piece Prisantha gave each one for their troubles.

There is a dead woman in the coffin, but it is not Esril. The woman is older and heavyset, with calluses that betray her status as a common laborer. She could not have been dead for long, as her eyes are still whole.

Pris and Dabus cycle through a battery of divinations, but discern nothing unusual about the woman's corpse. Pris scrutinizes the woman's clothing. Her dress marks her as a 'provincial' - the name used in Chendl to refer to anyone from the South of Furyondy.

They make a note of her distinguishing features, and instruct the gravediggers to take the corpse to the Academy of Magic as planned, but return for it the next day.

"Let us join the others, we have much to discuss," Prisantha says.

The two make their way through the Chendl streets, and are met halfway to Jespo's home by a wandering minstrel who mistakes them for a pair of lovers and offers to serenade them. Dabus grows embarrassed, and seems about to send the man along, but Pris offers him a silver coin, and he begins to strum a lively tune.

The unlikely trio make their way to Jespo's neighborhood, where they see a strange sight: a farmer's wagon and its draft-oxen have parted ways, and during the farmer's attempt to re-harness the stubborn beast he has managed to turn the ox sideways, completely blocking the narrow street!

"May I be of assistance?" Dabus asks, as he steps forward.

The farmer looks curiously at the heavily armed and armored cleric stepping toward him out of the darkness, but his look turns to complete shock when Dabus enacts his Feat of Strength and bodily lifts the oxen over his head, setting the beast down out of the way!

The onlookers are so shocked by this that every mouth hangs open for a few seconds before the minstrel yells, "What are you waiting for? Kill them!"

-----

Heydricus is taking a shortcut through a particularly quiet stretch of the city when he hears a soft whistling and is struck by a crossbow bolt fired from a nearby rooftop. As his muscles around the wound clench convulsively, he gasps "Poison!" and draws his sword.

A thick, cold mist begins to rise up from the cobblestones around Heydricus as he fights against the bitter venom coursing though his blood. Through the haze, Heydricus notices a vaguely familiar silhouette running down the wall of a nearby building with disturbingly unnatural nimbleness. Worse, a sense of vile, unthinking malice pervades the area as it is suddenly desecrated.

As the hidden crossbowman glides into view, he is joined by a heavily armored fighter emerging from an alleyway, and to Heydricus' rear, another armored individual appears, his arms and armor bearing the unholy symbol of Iuz.

The cleric behind him has a telltale swatch of skin missing from his forearm, and the duo approaching from the front both have strange angles to their faces, as if their skulls were vehemently compressed in some unnatural past event.

Heydricus, of course, recognizes the corpses of Lucius, Egil and Aelniir when he sees them.

-----

Next: The Liberators meet a few dead friends.

 

[(contact)]

Interlude: A Quiet, Still Place of Doubt.

When the Flan arrived in Tenh, they brought their Gods with them. The Tenha built their structures and dwellings around shrines that are as old as anything man-made in the area. Generations of Flan priests recorded the names of these Gods, and the rites designed to invoke their favor. Over time, the books themselves became objects of devotion, absorbing the faith of all the clerics who turned their pages over the years.

In the mines at Curruth, far from the alleys of Chendl, Tau rises from his cross-legged meditation. Try as he might, he simply cannot draw his higher-level spells into his mind, a sure sign that Pholtus is displeased. Despite himself, he wonders how long he will have before he is put to The Question.

The thought provokes a small bitter laugh from Tau, as does the realization that he would likely have trained all the clerics sitting in judgment.

Tau paces about the small room that formerly served as the study for Suel the Artificer and tries to compose his whirling emotions. His vision is drawn to the small devotional manual he found in the hidden shrine, and the secret it contains.

Tau of Wintershiven was a scholar long before he became an adventurer, and comparative religion was his specialty. He used to believe that he knew the names, icons and rituals of every deity worshipped in the Flannaes, but now he knows this is not true.

The manual is old, ancient even, and he has had to handle it with care lest he crumble its aging pages. The book is open to a section that describes a traditional Flan deity previously unknown to the Pholtan cleric: A God of Duty, Order and Law.

 

[(contact)]

Coldeven 17

25: Sometimes You Miss Your Old Friends, and Sometimes You Crit Them.

Heydricus fights against the poison blurring his vision and grits his teeth. He studies his foes for a moment, while debating how to best attack.

His former companions display an abnormal quickness and strength. Their eyes gleam with a sort of inner fire, and their skin seems stretched and shiny. .

Heydricus hastes himself, then whirls on his toes. He levels Prisantha's New Favorite Wand at Aelniir, and is pleasantly surprised when the resulting fireball completely immolates the undead crusader, and Aelniir's very skin catches fire!

Lucius and Egil wade into Heydricus, flanking him and cutting him badly. Lucius' voice is whispered and raspy, no doubt due to the massive crushing head blow that ended his natural life. "Surrender to this death, Heydricus, and lead us again in the next life."

-----

"Why, Keriann," Jespo says as he answers his door. "Back so soon from your dinner? Did those rapscallions refuse you service? If those wastrels . . ." Jespo trails off. "What was that you said?"

Keriann is standing in the doorway, staring at Jespo with a level gaze.

"Daern," comes a voice from behind her, out in the night.

"What! Who said that?" Jespo backs away from the door as Fräs hisses.

A trio of magic missles arc out of the night and sear into Jespo Crim as a familiar voice taunts him. "It should have been you, Jespo. You're the reason I died! Daern! Daern! Daern!"

Keriann raises her hands above herself and mumbles a vile litany of Iuzian blasphemies. A stinking pit of negative despondency opens out away from her, poisoning the air with its invisible command to despair.

As Keriann finishes the desecration of the area, Fräs leaps into her face, hissing and clawing for all she is worth. The former nun of St. Cuthbert shrugs aside the ferocious feline, and grins wickedly at Jespo, who is fumbling for spell components and desperately wishing he still had a magic item or two.

As Jespo completes his spell, a radiant hound-headed celestial appears with a righteous fury in its eyes, and steps to the door-lintel swinging a glowing two-handed sword. As the hound archon attacks Keriann, it is leapt upon by a hidden halfling wielding a pair of short swords. The halfling curses as he misses, and melts back into the darkness without a sound.

Keriann steps away from the door, just as a lightning bolt rips through the air, passing harmlessly through the archon's minor globe of invulnerability and striking Jespo square in the chest. "Daeeeeeeern . . ." comes the moaning cry in its wake.

"Talk about holding a grudge," Jespo mutters as he tries to catch his breath.

At that moment, Keriann calls upon the Old One and dispels the hound archon, laughing all the while. "Just die, Crim and save us all some bother. I don't even think you're worth reanimating, you pathetic little man. I never did like you."

Jespo screws up his courage and summons the poor overworked archon for a second time. "I will not be undone!" he shouts, rather unconvincingly, as the hound archon charges forward again. Fräs leaps back into the fray herself, hoping to smite Keriann, but finds the nasty nun's taut skin to be hard as stone.

A second group of magic missiles veer around the combatants and burn into Jespo, sending his system into shock. Fräs cries out as Jespo collapses to the ground, his breathing shallow. The archon is forced to step back and lay on hands, absorbing a terrible blow from the evil cleric as it does so.

Jespo rises to his knees and calls Evard's Black Tentacles to him. The area around the doorframe extending both into the house and into the street is filled with writhing black pseudopods that grow out from the floor to blindly grasp at any nearby movement.

Keriann has seen this spell kill Jespo's companions before (Gnomishic in the battle with Zinvellon), and she wants no part of it.

"Rest well, Crim," she taunts as she retreats, "knowing that we are coming."

-----

Heydricus cleaves into Egil, putting his sizeable weight behind each blow, using his haste and true strike to ensure that each attack counts. Egil stands toe-to-toe with Heydricus, but not for long. Egil's features are severely marred, despite whatever regeneration magics were used as part of his reanimation, and Heydricus almost has trouble recognizing his former ally's features.

Almost. A word that applies to most of Egil's adventuring career as well as this phase of his unlife. Egil wounds Heydricus, almost enough to force the Liberator to desist. Egil repulses Heydricus, almost enough to have some effect on his morale. And in the end, Egil almost survives Heydricus' third and final blow.

Lucius has found his poisons lacking, and as Egil's body looses animation for a second time, the Iuzian assassin whispers, "We'll meet again," before spider climbing up and over a nearby building.

Heydricus pauses for a minute to catch his breath, then picks up the corpses of Aelniir and Egil and places them over his shoulders.

-----

The minstrel rasps a fencing-sword from the hollow of his lyre and swipes at Prisantha. The four other highwaymen, including the farmer, were so surprised at Dabus' feat of strength that they lost their ambush! But they are still quick on their feet, and they leap to the offensive, sneak attacking both Pris and her new friend. A furious melee ensues, and Pris is cut deeply before she can activate a stoneskin spell.

Dabus calls upon the grace of Tritherion and summons His righteous wrath, growing to giant size and vowing Retribution. Dabus looks quite at ease battling these would-be muggers, but he is completely taken aback when the farmer's ox snarls like a giant cat and pounces upon him, biting deeply into his flesh and raking him with its back hooves. Raking him?

As Dabus staggers back, his attention is drawn by a frightened cry from above him. A young boy, no more than ten years old, is watching the fight from a second story window, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

Prisantha swiftly dominates one of the rogues and turns him against his fellows, shrugging off several sword blows as they scrape against her stony flesh. Dabus is held down and mauled by the ox and stabbed again by one of the thugs, but manages to win free and retain his feet.

Prisantha summons a celestial lion to the fray, and it pounces upon the ox, who rears up on its hind legs and lets out a lion-like roar of its own and tangles up with the great cat. The thugs back away warily, unsure how to proceed.

Prisantha is distracted by a soft giggling from a nearby rooftop, and turns just in time to be on the receiving end of a magic missile spell released from the fingertips of a young straw-haired lass.

Pris, of course, does not recognize Tisha the invoker, nor the half-orc warrior who steps into view at the other end of the alley, hoisting a greatsword in one hand, and a steel shield in the other.

Dabus, shaken and badly bleeding, heals himself in the name of his God, and readies his spear. Pris swiftly feebleminds one of the thugs, sending the now-moronic lass stumbling into the night.

As the lion and ox wrestle with one another, the half-orc woman strides into the melee, and is backed up by a human female wearing light leathers and wielding a flaming longsword.

Prisantha has the thugs wrapped up, and her summoned lion is holding its own, but unfortunately, her defensive spells cannot protect her from the lightning bolt set upon her by the straw-haired lass. The electricity rips through Prisantha, and she falls to the ground with a soft sigh.

Dabus focuses his faith, and releases a positive energy burst that overwhelms the three undead adventurers, and sends them fleeing into the Chendl streets. At this moment, the massive ox rips the throat from Prisantha's lion, and as it is about to pounce on Dabus, it suddenly disappears with a throaty howl, leaving behind a silver circlet that radiates magic.

Dabus fends of a pair of feeble sword-blows from the two remaining thugs, and cures Prisantha, mending her burned skin and restoring her to consciousness. As she rises to her feet, the two thugs scatter and flee, but not before Dabus can strike one of them in the back with a ray of searing light, killing him.

"You struck him from behind!" Exclaims the boy in the window.

"And he had it coming, too," says Dabus. "Now close that window and go to bed!"

Pris and Dabus dash back to Jespo Crim's house, only to find the front of it surrounded by black tentacles. "What on earth is going on here?" Pris asks. She swiftly dispels the tentacles and tries the door, only to find it locked.

"Who goes there!" a frail voice demands from behind the door.

"Jespo, it is Prisantha, let us in."

"Prove your identity or suffer the consequences!" Jespo screeches.

"Well," Pris thinks for a moment. "When we were fighting Zinvellon, you tugged upon the sleeve of the celestial and demanded that he raise your Fräs from the dead."

"And what did he say?"

"He demanded that you fight. 'Not now, Crim', he said. 'Fight evil!'"

The door flies open. "Oh Prisantha, it was terrible! Keriann is dead, and she had Anton with her! I am sure that dastard Reine was behind all of this. Why Fräs, someday we shall have our revenge . . ."

Dabus and Prisantha step inside, and Dabus begins curing the group until all are whole again. Pris scrys Heydricus, hoping to warn him about the ambushes. She spots the new Holy Liberator of Tritherion at the door of the Provost Marshall's home. Heydricus responds to her message with the terse reply that he is aware of the ambush, and has just now convinced Reine to let him hide the bodies of Egil and Aelniir in the Provost Marshall's wine cellar.

That night, Dabus returns to the Temple of Tritherion, while Prisantha teleports Heydricus, Jespo and herself to the mines at Curruth.

"Once I scribe reduce into my books," she says, "I will be able to take us all along. Be well, Dabus. We will return for you soon."

-----

Elijah's first reaction to the teleporting trio is to rip her swords from their scabbards, but she relaxes when she sees the familiar faces of her friends. Heydricus bounds over to her and wraps her up in a bear hug, which she stiffly wrestles free of, frowning slightly.

"There's been no further trouble here, Heydricus."

"Well then," Heydricus says as he glowingly looks over the remaining carnage. "Let's go get the Aiman and set these Tenha free!"

-----

Next: An arrangement is made for Curruth, and the Liberators circle their wagons.

 

[(contact)]

Coldeven 17, CY 593

26: The New Order

The Aiman is overjoyed to hear that the Iuzians at Curruth have been beaten. He and his Tenha slowly filter up from their near-underdark hiding places and wander through the mines, re-examining parts of their home they had been forbidden from for the last ten years. Many of them joyfully take to the outside, dancing and singing, reveling in their new freedom.

The Aiman is introduced to the other Liberators, and gleefully thanks them, clutching their hands in a grateful vicegrip.

"I will thank you not to take liberties with my hand, sir!" Jespo huffs as he regards the disheveled Aiman with a suspicious glare.

Unfazed, the Aiman takes Heydricus into a small chamber, and the two of them hash out a rough plan for sharing the mines. A Council of Rule will be established, in the old Flan manner. There will be a triad of leadership: Spiritual, led by the Tenha clerics; Secular, led by the Aiman and his wise-folk; and Military, led by Heydricus and the Liberators of Tenh.

Heydricus will be allowed to use Curruth as a base for guerilla action throughout northern Tenh, and the Tenha here will work the mines for the war effort. In exchange, Heydricus must protect the Tenha from any further Iuzian deprivation, and funnel a part of the proceeds from the ore back into the lives of the miners here.

For his part, Heydricus must agree to undertake classes instructing him in Tenha culture, history and values. The Aiman stresses that if Heydricus is to be a Tenha, he cannot do so in the shape of a Marklander.

The Aiman and Heydricus agree that what they really need is better intelligence about Tenh; who rules, who thinks they rule, and who opposes them? There are rumors of a Pholtan army, liches, troll-hordes and leftover orc brigades rampaging the south, but very little is known about the north of Tenh.

During the party's latest meeting with Belvor, the King's advisor indicated that Heydricus should "look to the mountains", implying that some sort of threat was lurking just next door to the mines. The Aiman admits that while he has a strong grasp of Tenha history, he knows next to nothing about current events. He tells Heydricus that there used to be several villages in the mountains that were never recorded on any maps, known only to the locals. Other than that, the only fearsome things up there were some giants who kept to the most inaccessible heights, leaving the lowlands alone.

-----

The Iuzian plan for revenge against the Heroes of the Temple is clear: retrieve the bodies of the fallen, murder the living and raise them all into a horrific undead state. Thrommel is safe enough, but sadly, for Esril it is too late. The next order of business then, is to gather the remaining Heroes of the Temple who cannot be accounted for. Gnomer, Gnomishic, Ethel and Ren Qi are warned via the scrying pool.

Prisantha next scrys Cmin, and finds the elven rouge in a makeshift tent, preparing a wounded companion for travel.

Heydricus, Dabus and Pris ready themselves for battle, and prepare to teleport in. After her first teleport goes awry (again!), Prisantha's second attempt hits the mark, and with a rush of air, the Liberators find Cmin discussing strategy with a group of her fellow Knights of the High Forest.

After a surprised Cmin recovers from her fright, she tearfully embraces her former companions remarking that they certainly couldn't have come at a better time.

The handful of shaken and wounded Knights are all that remains of a support detail that has been making trouble in Dorraka, Iuz's capitol and stronghold. They are unclear as to the greater purpose of their mission, but they know that they were sent to distract the Iuzians while a second strike-force assaulted the city.

"I know why you're here," Heydricus said. "The Prince was captured, and you have made a way for his rescuers to free him. They were successful, and that's two he owes you, Cmin."

The small band of High Forest Knights have been fighting a retreating maneuver, taking losses along the way, and trying to make it out of the lands of Iuz. A force of orcs and giants, led by a fiendish sorcerer, has pursued them this far, and even now are encamped in a nearby ruined fort. Their foes are cruel, and have seemed content to whittle down their numbers.

"This sounds like the Liberators' kind of fight," Dabus says.

"Let's go get those bastards," Heydricus chimes in.

-----

Next: Leave your saving throws at the door, please.