(YBA) Kalath in Wicht's Lair (continued)

[Wicht]

"I am afraid," said Willford, " That I had in mind something else for it. If you would be so kind as to hand the necklace to Dizzy here I will instruct him to allow you access below with a note of introduction from myself."

The demon guarding Wicht's Tomb towers before Kalath, hand out waiting for Kalath to give him the necklace.

 

[graydoom]

"Pity."

Kalath hands the necklace to Dizzy.

 

[Wicht]

"Very Good," Willford smiles evilly and for a moment Kalath feels he may have made a mistake, but the glee is soon gone from the transparent face and Willford motions to the demon who pushes open the large ornate coffin.

A blast of hot air rushes from the opening and Kalath sees that there are stairs leading down within the thing.

"Wait here a moment," intones Willford as he floats back towards the outer room.

Kalath waits while the demon stands resolute, the necklace now around its neck.

After a moment Willford returns and a sealed scroll floats from him into Kalath's hand.

"Give this to the doorwarden." says Willford.

 

[graydoom]

Kalath heads into the coffin and down.

 

[Wicht]

The air emanating up is very warm and as Kalath goes deeper and deeper into the ground, the air grows even warmer still.

The stairs are of black stone and torches with blue flame burn on the walls of the stairwell.

Down and still further down the stairs head.

At some point the walls receed away from the stairs and to either side the floor falls away until the stairs alone spiral down into a void. There is still light however for distant fires burn and to one side lava seems to flow through the earth. Still the black stairs head down

Finally the stairs reenter the solid earth and blue burning torches again light the way. The air is hot and stuffy.

At long last, a mile or more it would seem below the surface of the earth, the stairs end and a small corridor leads into a room, ten feet square, an iron door on the other side.

Before the door, unmoving, a lone batwinged demon guards the entrance.

 

[graydoom]

Kalath approaches the demon and holds out the sealed scroll he got from Willford.

 

[Wicht]

The demon takes the scroll, the heat from its hand palpable. Looking at the seal it nods and wordlessly hands the scroll back to Kalath. Then opening the door, it moves aside to allow Kalath entrance beyond.

 

[graydoom]

Kalath enters.

 

[Wicht]

Beyond the door is a wide hallway, richly paneled with a luxurious carpet. A few feet into the hallway, across from a mahogony end-table holding a vase of rotting flowers, there is, to Kalath's right, a set of large black stairs going up.

A few feet past the stairs the hallway opens into a half-circle room. The curved wall facing kalath is of polished marble and is dominated by a short flight of carpeted steps leading to a small landing and a heavy set of double doors. To either side of the landing, at ground level, are doors (two to a side) spaced out over the length of the curve. Other than the open archway Kalath just exited, there are no other doors on the flat part of the room.

There are two young, but very large dragons curled on either side of the steps leading to the landing. Smoke curls out of their nostrils and they appear to be snoozing. Kalath's keen eyes however detect a hint of awareness beneath the lids.

Intuition tells him to approach the double doors.

 

[graydoom]

Kalath approaches the double doors and enters if nothing happens.