The Realms of Enlightenment: The Grey Companions

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #363] Beyond the Door

All five versions of Huzair discharged his Mark of Fire, releasing the tattoo's bound magic as a ray of fire that struck Rake full in the face. Unfortunately the result was similar to the wizard's Wand of Scorch attack; the fire washed over the black-skinned creature causing no clear damage. The momentary conflagration did present enough of a distraction to allow Karak an opening.

The dwarf charged inside of Rake's reach, narrowly avoiding the giant orc's talons in order to bury his waraxe into the creature's belly. The wound was horrific, sending a swath of black ichor spattering across the wall as the dwarf drew the weapon back for another swing. Somehow, Rake remained on its feet even as ropey coils of intestines spilled from the rent in its torso. Snarling silently Karak pressed his advantage, striking again and again before the creature could return to the offensive. His waraxe hacked the fingers from Rake's left hand and sank down to the bone in the orc's hip. He felt a give beneath his blade as the pelvis shattered and then the creature was tumbling back in silence.

It fell against the wall and slid, lifeless to the floor.




After picking the body clean of valuables, they used alchemist's fire to burn it to cinders.



Ultimately, it was Karak who did the dirty job of carrying Rake's head back to Grandfather Plaque. Hauzair had refused to put it in his haversack, or allow Karak the use of his spear to perch the grisly price upon. So Karak had sunk his axe into the bestial skull and shouldered it, charred and lifeless, as they made their way back to the hidden door.

At first they moved through the empty halls in silence, battle-weary and cautious of any further threat. But upon reaching the room, conversation rekindled amongst them. Once again the question arose - which answer should they give to Grandfather Plaque's riddle? Karak had seized the moment before his rage subsided in an effort to intimidate Huzair into agreeing that leper wasn't the correct choice. Huzair made a great showing of not being dissuaded by a dwarf, but, in the end, for whatever reason, he acquiesced.

Morier spoke their answer to the riddle confidently, "The healer is the luckiest man."

"Are you certain?" the stone face asked. "Your answer, once given may not be changed."

"We're certain," Lela assured the guardian. Grandfather Plaque's gaze travelled appraisingly over them, settling at last on Huzair.

"And you all agree to this answer?" the face asked, studying the mage intently. Huzair sighed.

"Yeah," he agreed. "The answer's: the healer."

And slowly the door opened.



The arched doorway was filled floor-to-ceiling with a pane of absolute black that defied scrutiny. Controlling a shared impulse to charge right through, Morier convinced the party that rest was in order. And so they posted watch, passing the night in the room under Grandfather Plaque's watchful gaze.

Later, while pondering the enigmatic pane of darkness, Huzair shared a story he had once heard about a group of tomb robbers who had filed one-by-one through a similar-looking portal while hunting for a lich's hidden riches. "Turned out that the "portal" was really a Sphere of Annihilation," he chuckled sardonically. "Killed the whole party." Lela snorted at that.

"If it killed them all, then how would anyone know the story?" she scoffed and Huzair just shrugged.

"Beats me," he said. "But that's the way I heard the story. Kinda funny, if you ask me."

"You're a regular ray of sunshine, Huzair. You know that?" Ayremac sighed, glancing skeptically at the black field.

For his part, Grandfather Plaque was quite beside himself with excitement - first at the smoking evidence of Rake's demise, and secondly at the successful response to his riddle. In the morning, with assurances that they would keep their word and return for him if successful, the party took their leave. Karak led them purposefully through the archway - each one feeling significantly closer to their goal.



One by one they stepped through the portal and stepped into a pentagonal room with a vaulted ceiling. The portal by which they'd entered was set into one wall and each of the other walls had a door set into it. Each door was wooden and bound with brass, adorned with a massive gleaming rune wrought from the same metal. From the left of the entryway, the runes were: Earth, Fire, Air, and Water.

In the floor at the center of the chamber was a series of indentations. A central, circular shaft perhaps a foot across was surrounded by four cube-shaped sockets, each not much larger than a fist. Each of the sockets was labeled with the same rune as each of the corresponding elemental doors.

The chamber was otherwise empty and lit with a diffuse, white glow. "Lots of magic here," Lela announced as she glanced around.

"Not surprising," Morier said as he walked the chamber hoping to feel some sort of tug in his head. There was a steady thrum of sensation, but nothing specific.

"Where do we go from here?" Ayremac asked. He looked expectantly at Morier, but the eldritch warrior shook his head.

"The pull isn't telling me anything," he cursed. "Grandfather Plaque said that there were 12 tests in all - two tests of character followed by one test of strength for each the four keys."

"And he also said that answering his riddle was the first of the 12 tests, right?" Lela quipped and the albino nodded.

"So we just need to pick a door and go through it, aye?" Karak said, gesturing at the four rune-marked doors with his waraxe.

"I guess so," Morier admitted. He unsheathed his bastard sword and looked expectantly at the others. "Any preferences?"



They chose the Earth Door and stepped through into a short corridor. At the far end was another door like the first and filled with another field of utter black. They passed through it to step into a shadowy, ill-defined space. They could see nothing of the walls and ceiling; the floor seemed made of undressed stone. They moved forward and the dark portal was soon swallowed up by the shadows. At the same time, a shape began to resolve itself out of the darkness ahead and after taking another dozen steps, they could see what it was more clearly.

A massive, dark altar of stone rose up out of the shadows with a figure reclining atop it. The figure shifted languidly at their approach and sat up. It was clearly a celestial of some kind, its flesh as white and opalescent as a pearl, its hair like platinum. Its beautiful face was streaked with lines of bloody tears and the raw stumps of broken pinions rose from its shoulders. Beyond the celestial and the alter they could see another door of wood bound with brass and marked with the rune of Earth.

The figure regarded them with awful intensity and spoke. "To pass through the far door you must sacrifice one of your own on this altar."

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #364] The Test of Loyalty

"Excuse me?" Ayremac asked, incredulous.

"To pass through the far door you must sacrifice one of your own on this altar," the celestial said again, its tone of voice indifferent, apathetic. It gestured half-heartedly at the stained and pitted block of stone atop which it had previously reclined and for the first time The Order noticed the rusty shackles fixed to the block at its four corners. A plain knife with a curved blade was revealed as the pale figure stepped languidly to the side.

"But we need to get the Earth Key!" Morier argued. "It's vital to freeing Dridana's heart."

"I know. And it is my duty to keep that key from the hands of the unworthy," it told him. "Only those who pass this test may face the guardian of the Earth Node."

"I'll volunteer," Lela said at once. "I'm going to die from the Rot anyway. My death may as well do some good."

"Let's not be so quick to throw your life away," Shamalin said and Morier nodded.

"I agree. This test is a strange one," the albino looked pointedly at the celestial and added, "What sort of angel would ask us to kill a friend?" The being regarded him blandly.

"The sort that I am, it would seem," it told him.

"Are you really an angel, though?" Huzair asked, gesturing at his own face to indicate the blood streaming down the celestial's. "That's what I'd like to know."

"I am what I am," it told him. "My nature is immaterial to the test at hand. The door beyond is barred to you until one of you is sacrificed atop the altar."

Karak stamped his axe haft on the ground to get the outsider's attention. "Does it matter who it is?" he asked and the celestial grinned sardonically.

"It must be one of you. My death will do you no good," it told him. "Neither will I wield the knife for you. This test demands that both victim and slayer come from within." They all looked at one another and the celestial added," I may choose for you if you do not wish to."

"So there is a proper choice to be made?" Karak asked and the outsider shook its head slowly.

"No. Who it is does not matter," it corrected. "But often it is easier on the conscience to stand by while a friend is condemned to death than it is to be the one doing the condemning." Again there was a weighty silence as the group considered.

"Who would you choose?" Huzair asked suddenly and without hesitation, the celestial raised a hand and pointed at Ayremac.

"The holy warrior," it said solemnly. If the Officer of Umba was surprised it did not show on his face.

"Huh..." Ayremac said, standing, almost as a statue, watching the others banter back and forth. It was strange to see a celestial, that which Ayremac had always held as the 'advanced' race, point at him and request his death.

"And which of us would you have kill him?" Shamalin blurted afraid of what the celestial would say. But it didn't point at her. Instead it raised its other hand, pointing accusingly at Huzair.

"The wizard," it said. "The wizard should plunge the knife into the holy warrior's heart. Only then can you pass through the door beyond."

Shamalin wasn't cold, but the celestial's pronouncement sent a shiver through her nonetheless. She stepped behind Ayremac and quickly cast Detect Thoughts; despite the fact that the spell went off as she'd planned, she received no information from the magic. Something was blocking Divination magic entirely... which made a good deal of sense now that she thought about it. It'd be awfully easy to pass all these tests if all you needed to do was cast Augury every time.

"Each one in this group willingly gives their life over to the very real possibility of destruction by evil every day, and they do so with the hopes of finding peace and bringing ruin to the evil that would destroy us all," Morier said defiantly. His eyes seemed to flash in the dim chamber, but the celestial reacted not at all.

"We have been instructed by the water guardian in the Grove of Renewal to follow a force here to find keys which might be used to raise Dridana to fight the evil brought by Aphyx," the eldritch warrior explained. "Few men will make the sacrifice to give up all that they have to follow this fight for the betterment of all the Realms, and we will not sacrifice one of our number, for each is too precious a life to take away from this cause."

"Then you have made your decision?" the angel asked. "You refuse to make the sacrifice and forfeit the opportunity to pass through the far door?"

"I think we should not tempt fate," Ayremac said solemnly, his tone as much as his words drawing all eyes to him. "Before you argue and make this any more difficult then it already is... I have decided," he explained, holding up a staying hand as he set down his shield and morningstar. Staring up at the celestial he announced, "I will take this challenge... and I will do it myself."

Without hesitation, he began the slow process of removing his chest plate. Shamalin stepped forward and grabbed his arm. "Ayremac, don't do this," she cried. "It would be a mistake."

He smiled at her reassuringly as he gently pried her fingers from his arm. "In just a few short days you all have led me to believe this is a cause worth dying for. I look forward to seeing you all in the presence of Umba."

"Dibs on his stuff." Huzair said quickly, earning a flurry of stern looks from the others. He laughed and shook his head. "What? I'm only kidding!" They continued to stare at him and he rolled his eyes before turning directly to Ayremac and saying, "Wait and think."

"I have thought about it, Huzair," Ayremac replied, still loosening straps on his armor as he spoke. "This is the best decision. For all of us."

"I imagine that the followers of Aphyx would only be all too willing to sacrifice one of their own, Ayremac," Shamalin argued. "There has to be another way."

"Aye," Karak said with a nod. "Your desire to die for the cause be admirable. laddie, but I been thinkin'. We have chaos already doin' that for us. I say let us keep your sword arm in the fight."

On Karak's shoulder, Lela nodded vigorously.

"Do the protectors o' these keys really want us to be one less in number to break free of chaos' hold? I think not!" the dwarf went on. "This test is one to make sure we be the rightful bearers o' these powerful instruments. So the test be about doin' the right thing not dyin'. I vote nae." He hammered his waraxe haft on the floor once for emphasis.

"I will submit to leaving the room, but what then?" Ayremac asked the dwarf. He managed to fully loosen his breastplate and he wriggled free of it with some effort. "What do we do if nothing happens?" Karak shrugged in response.

"Perhaps the gesture o' taking one's own life be enough for us to walk through the doors to get the key. Perhaps, in the thick o' things later you be alone facin' the minions of chaos and you have to die doin' so. Perhaps, horribly, one of us will be faced with aiding in that in some tragic way. I do nae know," he admitted with a wave of his hand. In mid-gesture that hand became a fist and he extended one accusatory finger at the celestial. "But I do know this, I'm not going to let some big fairy tell me how to be loyal. I be loyal to me chalak. I be loyal to Shaharizod, I be loyal to meself and me clan. An' I be loyal to you all. I say let the loyalty be true in our hearts and we tell this so-called angel so. That be what I say."

"As Morier has always said: 'we need to stick together.' One of us cannot go off on the 100 day walk," Huzair said, addressing the celestial and Ayremac in equal parts. His voice dripped with sincerity as he stepped forward, putting an arm around Karak. "All of my valued comrades and friends would surely lay down their life for the cause, but we also have loyalty to each other. Our cause will be only further weakened if we were to lose a link of this chain." He stepped nearer the celestial and spread his arms to encompass the entirety of The Order as he went on.

"Laying down our lives for the test is far too easy. We do that every time we open a new door. Sticking together and being loyal to each other is the true test!" Huzair stepped back and embraced Morier tightly. Sniffing back a tear he whispered into the albino's ear, "You judged the healer test right and I just would not listen to you."

Stunned, Morier drew away from the mage's arms. His first instinct was to draw his sword and demand the return of the REAL Huzair, but looking into the wizard's wet eyes, he couldn't help but believe that the man had had a change of heart. His jaw dropped open of its own accord, and he found himself at a loss for words.

"Aye, lad, that be the most touchin speech I do hear in a long time," Karak growled as he stepped up beside the wizard. "Why'n it reminds me of the time the clan elders all spoke to us about the incomin' gobbo raid and inspired us all to tears and bravery."

"Every word I said was true," Huzair told him, smiling and batting his eyelids innocently. The dwarf nodded.

"I believe I do feel lighter in the heart. Come 'ere an let me give you a hug in the proper dwarven way," Karak spread his thick arms and crushed Huzair in and enormous rib squeezing hug that had the mage's eyes bugging out of their sockets. And without subtlety, he began to frisk Huzair. "Alright, what'd ye take, wizard? I know it must be somethin'."

"I didn't take anything from you, dwarf!" the mage protested, batting away Karak's overzealous hands. It felt a bit like one of Huzair's dating experiences, although he was usually on the other end of the exchange. The clang of Ayremac's armor hitting the floor brought a stop to the bizarre development.

"I will not step away from the group in this decision," Ayremac announced once everyone's eyes had returned to him. "I am willing to leave my mortal life on that table, but for the group, not in opposition to it."

He looked briefly at the pile of armor plates at his feet and then at each of the others in turn. "Let us cast our votes," he said. "Fists to leave the room, open hands to continue with the sacrifice." Without hesitation, he reached towards the group, hand outstretched.

Shamalin's position was clear. She put forth her fist, muttering, "This is senseless." After a moment's pause, the others each extended their fists one after the other. When the last person had cast their vote, Ayremac closed his own fist and nodded.

"The decision is made," he said before turning to the blood-stained angel. "No one will die on your altar this day."

"So be it," the celestial nodded. "The return you from whence you came. The door beyond is forever barred to you. Go." And saying thus, the diffuse light that had been illuminating the altar and the door marked with the symbol for earth some 30' further on began to dim. After but a heartbeat, even those with darkvision had trouble seeing the farther door. After three more it had been swallowed up by the darkness entirely.

They gathered up Ayremac's armor and hustled back to the door through which they'd entered this test. Again, the black void greeted them and they stepped through expecting to find themselves back in the short corridor leading to the central chamber.



Instead, after a disorienting moment, they found themselves standing at the bottom of a rough, rocky cavern in the middle of a small crater filled with razor-sharp crystals. The rune for earth was repeated along the edge of the crater.

"We did it," Lela chirped excitedly.

"Good thing, too," Morier added, looking around. "I wasn't sure what we'd do if we fail a test and don't get one of these keys."

"Look there!" Karak directed, pointing up. They could all see that the sheer cliff walls were riddled with deep niches and studded with crystals that cast a soft white light over the chamber. A wide stone bridge spanned the cavern 100 feet overhead, appearing from where they stood to be roughly 20 feet wide. A soft, pulsing white glow was coming from something on top of the bridge.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

"Dibs on his stuff." Huzair said quickly, earning a flurry of stern looks from the others. He laughed and shook his head. "What? I'm only kidding!" They continued to stare at him and he rolled his eyes before turning directly to Ayremac and saying, "Wait and think."

He's either half-dwarf, or the twin of someone in my group.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #365] What the Faen Saw

"So this be the Test of Earth," Karak muttered, his head still craned upward to look at the bridge of stone overhead. "It do nae seem so bad."

"Lets be careful, just the same, Karak," Ayremac suggested in a tense whisper. He was working at re-securing his armor in place with Shamalin's help. "I think it is safe to assume that nothing here is at it seems."

"It's not going to be a surprise for me to tell you that this whole place is radiating magic," Lela informed them as she used her natural ability to detect the rhythms of The Weave. "Strong. Conjuration magic. Walls, floor, everything within range."

"One wrong step could start a chain reaction," Ayreamc reiterated, nodding sagely at the sprite's announcement. "Let's be very mindful of where we are stepping."

Morier spent a few moments searching the ground within the shallow crater while Huzair examined the runes around the lip, but neither found anything. Karak continued to study the diffuse white light radiating from something overhead atop the bridge.

"What do ye suppose is makin' that light?" he asked Lela. The sprite was in her usual place on the dwarf's shoulder. She shrugged.

"I can fly up and take a look," she suggested, but Karak balked at the idea.

"That'd leave ye far removed from aid if ye discover somethin' that means ye harm," the dwarf told her, his gaze moving once more to the rocky span above. "It'll take several minutes to make a climb like that if ye need us, and that may well be too late."

"Huzair has Vade's Slippers," Morier reminded, pointing at the mage's curl-toed purple footwear. "But that'll still take time."

"I can prepare a Levitate spell as well, if we can take some time for me to do it," the wizard suggested, producing one of the spellbooks from his traveler's bag.

"Oh, if you guys want to Levitate, I have some pixie dust that can do that," Lela said, excitedly. She pulled out a pouch made of what looked like green leaves stitched together and shaped rather like a verdant bulb of garlic. She twisted the narrow end lightly and it spread, revealing some iridescent powder within.

Huzair snorted and shoved his book back into his bag. He was a trifle annoyed at being shown up, but he was never one to complain when someone else was willing to spend their resources instead of him having to use up his own.

Lela offered the pouch to everyone and they each took a pinch, sprinkling the dust over themselves. One by one they began to drift slowly upward toward the bridge.

"Remember you can only move up and down," Lela warned as first Morier and then Huzair floated off the ground."There's no way to move side-to-side."

Karak drifted upward, grumbling to himself. "This be no way for a dwarf to travel," he groused.



Morier and Huzair had already attained an altitude of 60 feet by the time Shamalin lifted off the ground, leaving a very confused Spot waiting in the crater below. Lela gave the cheetah a reassuring pat on the head and took off after her companions. She easily overtook the two arcane casters pausing long enough to say, "I'll scout ahead. Give a yell if you need my help." With a grin she twisted her body in the air and angled off toward the far side of the bridge. Before she'd gotten more than 10 feet away, both Morier and Huzair had lost sight of the tiny faen.



She looped beneath the bridge and soared back up on the far side, her wings a silver hum behind her. Like the rest of the cavern, the top of the bridge was crusted with crystals, but even more so than elsewhere; it reminded Lela of the interior of a geode with crystals the same violet color as her eyes. The hectic surface kept the source of the white light from being readily apparent, but the sprite's eyes were accustomed to chasing dragonflies across the water and she quickly found a narrow recess near the center of the bridge without too much effort.

Hovering there she paused to assess the magical nature of her surroundings and she was little surprised by what she saw. The bridge and the ceiling twenty some feet overhead were both magical. like the rest of the cavern. The recess, however, radiated a kaleidoscope of magical auras, Transmutation, Evocation, Abjuration... All of them powerful.

"Guys!" she called. "I think I found the-" Her thought was cut short by the sudden appearance of an earthen maw from the surface of the bridge. It rose up like a fish breaching the surface of the water and like a fish, it snapped at the tiny thing flittering just within reach. Lela had a brief glimpse of an ovoid body with the wide mouth set atop it, three claw-tipped arms set symmetrically around the mouth pushing it up out of the rock. That was all the more she had time to see before that toothsome maw snapped shut around her waist, its stoney fangs piercing her flesh with merciless abandon.



Forty feet below, Morier and Huzair heard her cry of pain.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

It rose up like a fish breaching the surface of the water and like a fish, it snapped at the tiny thing flittering just within reach. Lela had a brief glimpse of an ovoid body with the wide mouth set atop it, three claw-tipped arms set symmetrically around the mouth pushing it up out of the rock. That was all the more she had time to see before that toothsome maw snapped shut around her waist, its stoney fangs piercing her flesh with merciless abandon.

Xorn?

 

[Jon Potter]

Xorn?

Fiendish xorn, to be precise.

 

[Jon Potter]

[Realms #365a] Clipped Wings

"Okay, lads and lassies, this be the test o' strength. This be what we 'ere for," Karak bellowed as the faen's shriek of pain reverberated against the walls of the cavern. "One o' the keys be within reach. Just concentrate and focus our efforts to prevail. Now let's do it!"

Shamalin was unsure how she could 'DO' anything at the moment. She was quite a ways away and what had started out as an exciting feeling - levitating serenely up to the bridge - was now a frustratingly slow experience. She gritted her teeth and futilely willed herself to rise faster.



High above her, Lela was doing exactly the same thing. She beat her wings furiously against the air, slipping free of the creature's jaws only to have them snap shut again on her leg, the fangs stripping flesh agonizingly away from the bone. She tumbled in the air, but managed somehow to keep herself aloft. Then the creature's claws were everywhere, coming at her from what seemed like all sides. She avoided the first, then the second, and then the third caught her painfully across the side of her head, sending her mind into unconsciousness and her body somersaulting limply over the side of the bridge.



"Lela!" Ayremac shouted up upon hearing the sprite's second scream of pain. "Lela, whats happ-?" he began only to stop as he saw the faen's broken body tumbling downward, end over end. Just he and Morier above him were in any position to catch her he saw and if she fell from that height, there was no hope of her surviving.

He watched as the eldritch warrior stretched out his arms to catch the sprite. But he was too late and she plummeted passed him through the air. Ayremac tried to make frantic, clumsy swimming motions with his arms and legs until he realized there was no helping his situation; he just had to float up and wait for her to come to him.

He didn't have to wait long, She came on fast - too fast as it turned out. His arms closed around empty air. For a moment his fingers caught tantalizingly on one of the faen's tiny booted feet. But it was slick with blood and he couldn't maintain a grip. Then she was gone, spiraling downward to land splinteringly in the crater far below.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Foreshadowing of what has occured in game, or what may occur in game?

I'd put it in the "wishful thinking" column...

As Morier's "driver", I think I'm trying to push Shamalin to the brink of pulling a sword on Morier one day... just 'cause I know she's got it in her.

Of course she'll have to heal him once she gouges his spleen out with her big ugly b*stard sword... and that will be a beautiful little piece of irony unto itself.

~RB

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

splinteringly.

Ooh, good word.


So how did you adjudicate the "grapple" of the faen? Straight grapple check? Dex and Str check?

 

[Jon Potter]

So how did you adjudicate the "grapple" of the faen? Straight grapple check? Dex and Str check?

If you're refering to the Xorn, it wasn't actually a grapple - it attacked once during the surprise round and then beat Lela's inititative to get her again with a full attack. All the rest is just my pretty, pretty writing.

Morier and Ayremac got Reflex saves to catch her. I think that Ayremac missed the DC by only a point or two. They probably should have been straight Dex checks, but I was feeling generous... Plus, Lela was my wife's character and at that point she'd already lost two characters during the course of the campaign.