Zenith Trajectory – Chapter 5
OOC Notes:
Exp later by email. The party, in part due to DM adjustment, is generally 7th level now, with two exceptions.
Update: exp is 2600 for 6th level characters, 2250 for 7th.
This Week’s Adventure:
“Well unless this dwarf is standing behind us, we need to get out of here and recover. The frogs are not giving up their prize easily,” Astrid said. Nobody disagreed.
“Should we leave the temple or find a place to hole up for a while? I can’t say I remember any good spots for that. We might have killed a lot of guards but there are sure to be more,” Bellsin said after considering it for a moment.
“I’d feel safer if we withdrew at least to the tunnel. There was little enough traffic up there that we might be safe for a night,” Astrid replied, “but that leaves the water in our way.”
“Didn’t we see some small boats in the guard room?” Elizabeth asked.
And so we retreated, taking our fallen ranger with us. We were able to slip across the water to the tunnel without being seen and settled in for a short rest, an uneasy silence following us along. Krisfallion said a blessing over the body, and then he was wrapped up tight to keep the vermin away until he could be properly interred.
There was no sense of day or night, and everyone was so exhausted that they fell asleep almost immediately without discussion. Glyph’s mechanical dog-thing kept a tireless watch anyway, and nobody wanted to bring up the topic of who would cover Tzaddik’s shift.
Several hours later, the dog started moving around quietly, nudging Glyph. I could easily see what altered him – a light, bobbing its way down the long tunnel. It moved carefully but nothing could really hide it. Soon, everyone was up, and hiding along the tunnel wall in nooks and root clusters.
The light continued to move along the tunnel growing closer. The mere fact that there was a light implied it was someone from the surface rather than a native of the Underdark. I started moving down the tunnel to get a better look and warn the others what was coming.
It was a single creature – an elf. He had a longsword out, but he’d obviously been creeping along for several miles and his alertness was suffering. Each step he took made a soft shink shink shink sound betraying the armor under his cloak.
The elf passed Bellsin, who was nothing more than a shadow along the wall. Once he was near the girls, they stepped out.
“That’ll do,” Astrid said flatly. “You’ll find it healthier to keep your weapon lowered.”
The elf stopped, instinctively crouching once Astrid spoke. He paused, then stood up, his weapon cautiously relaxed. He looked from Astrid to Elizabeth and back. “You are the Blue Tygers?”
“You’ll find it better for your health if you let us ask the questions,” Elizabeth said calmly. To make the point clear, Bellsin let the elf feel the pressure of the tip of his blade against his kidney.
“Ah,” he said, not moving.
“Who are you, why are you here?” Astrid asked.
“My name is Ramir,” he said. “I’m looking for Tzaddik. I tracked you through the wilds, not that you made it easy.”
“And how do you know Tzaddik?” Astrid asked.
“I suppose I don’t. We have a mutual acquaintance. I was seeking him on a private matter. “
By now more of the group was coming out of the shadows. Ramir was no more tense because of this, but no less either.
“Well there he is,” Maris barked, pointing at the wrapped body. “Say what you came to say and go.” Maris was taking Tzaddik’s death harder than the others – she hadn’t dealt with death so directly before, nor was she a battle-tested soldier.
“As you can see, your effort was in vain, making the question of whether we believe you irrelevant. You should go now.”
“But I have proof,” he stammered quickly and reached inside his cloak, only to be brought up short by an insistent press of Bellsin’s blade. “I’m just reaching for a letter,” he said, both worried and insulted.
“And you also have the smell of a spell caster about you – I can tell you know,” Bellsin said quietly.
“Fair enough,” Ramir said. “May I?”
The sharp tip withdrew slightly, and Ramir cautiously extracted a set of papers. “I spoke with the Lady Celeste. She offered these letters to help vouch for my identity and intentions.”
Elizabeth took the letters from Ramir, and began examining them carefully. After a few minutes she said “If they’re forgeries, they’re good ones. If they’re real, we should be able to trust him.”
“I’ll submit to whatever magics you wish to confirm it if you like,” Ramir said. At first he was somewhat put off at his reception but he seemed to be more genuine now. I suspect he began to realize he would be doing the same thing if the positions were reversed and he appreciated the Tyger’s position.
That seemed to be enough to convince the girls, and weapons generally were put away and postures relaxed. “Well, as I said it seems irrelevant now. Tzaddik is dead, killed by a devil.”
“Unfortunate,” was all the reply Ramir could muster.
“You obviously made it here on your own, although given what we faced to get this far I would say it was somewhat foolish of you,” Elizabeth said.
“And of us,” Bellsin chimed in.
“Truth,” Elizabeth nodded. “I assume you can make it back out on your own, or if you wish you can wait here for us. Our work is not yet done and we are not ready to leave.”
“I can be of some help, if you wish. I am not unskilled with sword and, as you said, spells.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Astrid asked bluntly.
“Why indeed?” Elizabeth added. “It’s rare to see a Celenean elf falling in with mercenaries.”
Ramir shrugged, neither confirming nor denying his homeland. “You seem as if you could use the help. And the Lady indicated that if you needed my assistance that the payment terms would be extended to me as well.”
Astrid raised an eyebrow to Elizabeth, who nodded; the letters confirmed what he had said.
The Blue Tygers excused themselves and discussed it, and Elizabeth continued to pour over the bona fides searching for any signs of trickery. Ultimately they concluded that they did certainly seem to need the help.
Astrid told him “Very well, you can join us for this mission. Afterward… well afterward is afterward, and you can go your own way or we can talk about staying on.”
Introductions were made and Ramir was informed of the situation. In due time the group returned to the temple.
The guard post seemed to be unoccupied. We entered cautiously, and as Astrid entered the foyer a kua-toa came out of the shadows and lunged at her. Astrid parried and riposted, drawing blood. Maris followed with a spell and Elizabeth finished him off.
But something wasn’t right. Everyone was still on edge, expecting more in the ambush. The group spread out, and Astrid heard something in the foyer. Moments of anxious silence and looking about followed as everyone became more and more sure there was some invisible creature in the room but the room was so crowded that it seemed impossible.
“UP!” Astrid finally said and started swinging at the ceiling.
There was something there – her halberd drew an arc of blood out of thin air. But then it skittered away and we continued poking about blindly.
Maris tensed, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Behind her, a kua-toa appeared and leapt from the wall, a dagger in each hand slick with black ooze. The creature’s blades were heading straight for her kidneys, when there was a sudden sliver flicker across its path. Elizabeth’s curved blade came back around a wide arc to a guard, but there was no need – the assassin’s body had been sliced down the middle and each half made a wet splash on the floor and skidded to a stop on either side of Maris.
We made our way back down to the temple using the secret door to hopefully avoid any traps. Glyph spent no small amount of time fiddling about before we entered the actual temple chamber, attempting to deceive the wards that his presence was legitimate, and by extension ours. Whether it worked or the ward was simply discharged was unclear, but in either case no Eyrines appeared and we passed through without incident.
The lowest floor held doors that had been ignored previously and since we were at the bottom we started there. Behind the altar were two doors and Bellsin’s careful ear picked out the words of a concerned man issuing orders.
“… they’re either dead, or they’re feeding on the kill. Quick, bring me my armor.”
An unarmored opponent was all the prompting we needed. Astrid resumed her kua-toa disguise and entered the room. Inside she saw a priest hastily trying to don his plate mail with a duregar slave helping. Her appearance was convincing but not good enough and the priest was on to her. He stepped back and cast a spell, and the water in the room which had only been ankle-deep, began swelling. Soon it was filling the room and pouring out the open door, knocking down anyone in the way.
Astrid buried her halberd deep in the priest’s midsection, despite the water coursing around. Elizabeth went to the second door and opened it, allowing the enchanted water to drain away that much faster. Meanwhile Astrid was holding her own, stabbing at the priest as he tried to heal himself before it became fatal.
The duregar grew so tall he filled the room and tried to grab at Astrid but a pre-emptive haft strike across his temple brought him down. Astrid struck at the priest and the priest could withstand no more, and died, his blood draining out of the room with the water.
We continued to explore the lower levels encountering a variety of kua-toa décor styles that are better left undescribed. Bellsin carefully entered one room, half of which was underwater. He could make out swirls in the water that were schools of small creatures and he was able to pick out two pairs of kua-toa eyes lurking just at the waterline, waiting for the group.
Bellsin returned to the group and we were debating our best plan of attack when a voice called out loudly down the hall.
“Hello! I say, I don’t suppose you would care to discuss this like civilized beings before anything unfortunate happened?”
The voice was calm, strong, and anything but kua-toan.
“We’re not unreasonable,” Elizabeth called. “We will talk. You may approach. We will guarantee safe passage.”
“I hope you’ll understand if I’m somewhat hesitant even in light of that offer. I smell the blood of one of my kind on you and would rather be cautious,” the voice replied.
“Very well, two of us will come towards you,” Astrid said, and the girls went forward, weapons close, but not on guard.
Upon entering the room, they saw a black dragon. He was perched casually, parts of his hindquarters still in the water. “Greetings. I am Dorlat, the dragonfather.” Suddenly some of the frescoes in other rooms of a dragon mating with kua-toa became both more clear and less even tasteful. The dragon, upon seeing that the girls were… well… girls, immediately began eyeing them with an undisguised lust. “Well, this is unexpected but most welcome.”
“So let us first get the preliminaries out of the way – I assume you are here on some kind of crusade against the evil kua-toa?”
The girls exchanged a look. “No, we’re here looking for a dwarf. We don’t care about the kua-toa particularly except when they get in the way.”
“Ahhhh,” the dragon said. “Splintershield. Well you’re welcome to him.”
“Will the kua-toa let us take him and withdraw?” Astrid asked.
“Ah, well no not really. You’ll have to kill every last one that gets in your way I’m afraid.”
“And that doesn’t concern you?”
“Not particularly. That entire pool is teeming with my spawn but none of these creatures are of any consequence to me.” To make his point, he reached out a claw and snapped the neck of one of the kua-toa in the pool. “On the other hand perhaps we can… discuss other things.” He eyed Astrid particularly. “Our offspring would be… very strong.”
Astrid adequately hid her revulsion. “No, thank you just the same.”
“Are you sure? I am not un-generous in my liaisons. The rewards are many and… various.”
“Not. Interested,” she replied flatly.
“Perhaps if you would tell us where the dwarf is we could move along and trouble you no further,” Elizabeth tried to bring him on track.
“Oh. Yes. Third floor. Can’t miss him.” Dorlat was still leering, but now at Elizabeth. “Such fine child-bearing hips…”
“Thank you, but no. We’ll be going now.”
Dorlat called as they withdrew. “I smell a younger one with you – perhaps she would be interested? Must spread the seed far you know!”
As the girls returned, Maris asked “What was that about? What did he want with me?”
Astrid looked at her sternly. “You’re too young. But let’s just say you’d be starring in your own fresco.”
Maris shuddered in revulsion and we went upstairs.
Dorlat was right – the dwarf was hard to miss. Inside an oval chamber was a horrible scene. Bloody frescoes covered the wall surrounding a throne of stitched human skin. Banners – the Splintershield clan banners – hung upside down from pillars in open mockery. Corpses hung from the ceiling by their feet. On the throne was a dwarf in full plate armor with a large axe nearby. The madness in his eyes was palpable.
As we entered, the corpses began jerking and swaying. The dwarf called out. “I prophesize your doom.”
“Zenith,” Astrid asked, “are you in your right mind?”
“The green woman is looking for you. The Smoking Eye is going to set your city aflame,” he said.
Everyone stood in silence as Zenith raved.
“Not since the dark streams of the Smoking Eye. Not since the split. Have you seen it? Have you seen the Smoking Eye? Can’t you see it?”
Elizabeth tried to calm him. “Your father misses you Zenith. Will you come with us?”
“Oh, but I can’t. Not yet. This is my throne, and this,” he waved to the corpses “is my tribe. They were going to kill us all but the eye spoke to me. Spoke to ME! Told me to tell them the high priest would die, and the next day, before they killed me, he did. And so they listened. And they listened more and more and became mine. I am the Eye’s, just as you one day will be.”
Maris tried a different tack. “Where is the Smoking Eye?”
“Why, it’s here!” He pointed at himself. “And here…” he pointed at her. Zenith turned on Bellsin. “You’ll be buried alive, but you won’t be alone. The Eye told me that.”
Then he wheeled on Kris. “Your heart harbors two ships – betrayal and joy. Will they both arrive?”
Elizabeth tried again. “Will you come with us? We can help you.”
Zenith was still ranting, now at Astrid. “You will dance with yourself but one of you won’t get up. When the dance is over, one of you dies. Will you lead?”
Then his mind heard the question. “Go where? I won’t go anywhere. You can’t make me go. My clan is here. Can’t you hear them? They’re singing to me.”
“They’re asking to be let go,” Maris said calmly.
“Let go?!? Let go?!? I can’t let go. I have to destroy the Underdark. We only seek to remove its evil to protect ourselves. They’ll never come up to the fortress again. Father didn’t understand that. Do you?”
“The Eye tells me it’s all pointless. The cages are coming and there will be chains for everyone and we’ll all swing from the tree.”
Zenith got up and shuffled slowly towards us, dragging his axe along the floor. A moment of lucidity seemed to emerge. “Where would you go?” he asked Astrid.
“To the city,” she said. “To your father.”
Zenith was conflicted. Now that he was closer we could see a strange tattoo design over one eye. Then suddenly, something snapped. Or perhaps it’s better to say “something in him gave up”. His eyes drooped, his shoulders sagged, the axe haft fell to the floor.
“Wherever you want to go, take me there.”
We carefully disarmed him under the guise of helping him, carefully packing his arms and armor and banners for the trip. We left the temple, Zenith following along but saying nothing more.
If there were any defenders left, they didn’t try to stop us. The trip to Cauldron was so quiet it was eerie. The Blue Tygers arrived at town near supper, and went immediately to the Cusp of Sunrise.
The usher was… cold, to say the least. A group of highly armed people dirty from the road asking to see Lady Celeste was not exactly welcome but he had apparently been giving instructions and he followed them. The group was shown to a private room and given food.
It was some time before anyone came, and the person who did was not Lady Celeste but Lord Valantruu. “Greetings friends. Lady Celeste was detained on an errand. I see you were successful.”
“Only after a fashion, My Lord,” Elizabeth said, curtsying in armor. “Zenith is maddened and, we believe, cursed. Kris has tried to lift the curse but it is something more sinister than the standard prayers can resolve.” She moved closer to Lord Valantruu and lowered her voice. “He has not been violent so far, though it was close when we first found him. But I urge caution.”
“I understand. I think I can get someone from the Blue Crater Academy to look at him straight away. Please wait here while I summon assistance.”
It was well over an hour before Lord Valantruu returned with some guards and mages from the Academy. They carefully escorted Zenith away to be tended to.
“You have been successful, even if the price was dear. I have here the letters of mark as your reward,” he said, once Zenith was on his way.
“Thank you. We also have Zenith’s possessions and the clan banners. We thought Lord Splintershield would want them.”
“Indeed, he will be glad for their return. You should feel free to keep the armor and weapons if you wish,” he said.
The group exchanged looks and Elizabeth took that in. “No, I think we would rather see those returned to Zenith and his father.”
Lord Valantruu looked saddened. “That may not be possible. Splintershield has taken a turn for the worse and is very ill. That is why he is not here to meet you.”
One of the mages returned to the room and approached Lord Valantruu. He began to talk quietly but Lord Valantruu stopped him. “Please, they should hear this.”
“He is indeed cursed but it is unlike anything we have ever seen before. We will need time to study him and find a way to break this malady.”
“Do what you can for him,” Lord Valantruu said. “But do it quickly, or father and son may both be doomed.”
Loot:
5 poisoned daggers (shadow essence poison)
slippers of spider climbing
+1 returning short spear
masterwork heavy wooden shield with goo
mithril plate +1
mancatcher staff
holy symbol
500gp
malachite handled mirror (room 6)
pearl necklace (room 6)
garnet ring (room 6)
1200 sp
embroidered mantle
ebony chess set
fresco paints
tapestry
