#23 - Shrouds and Songs

As told by Rendar d'Torrn, a bounty hunter of House Tharashk

With the beast down, we were able to take a moment and evaluate.  Cyzicus and I recovered some gnoll arrows, while Xoma set right to work cutting off the eyes and mandibles from the "under-beast"—what we have come to recognize as an umber hulk. If those grisly items come in handy later, he can gloat about it then; I still say they're not very practical.  Cyzicus also inspected the arrow that was loosed from above upon the beast, as it was a most unusual design, with spiraling, serpentine carvings. Unfortunately we could not recover the arrow, as it seemed to be dissolving as we inspected it. It would not be useful. 

Magnus and Doongul had the right idea, though—they spotted moonlight through a window some fifty feet or more above us. I gave them my grappling hook, and they set about using it and Halbazar's rope to get us out of here.  I took up a position at the mouth of the cavern, so as to spot any more gnolls who would hinder our escape.

As I took up my position, I heard the sound of the grappling hook hitting the ground. I glanced back and could see Magnus, rope in hand like he was climbing, and the grappling hook on the ground beside him. Before I could fault my barbarian friend for impatience, I could hear the others conversing with a woman high up about the ledge where they were throwing the grappling hook.  She spoke just loudly enough for us to hear, like she didn't want anyone else to eavesdrop. My companions just called as loudly as they could, calling her to let us up.  

Doongul switched positions and hurled the grappling hook up again, and this time the unidentified woman unhooked it!  She asked who it was that she would be letting up. I returned to my companions and we introduced ourselves. I could see she was a thin woman, with what seemed to be a pale green skin, almost like a half-orc but she was far too slender. She did not believe us when we said we came out of the tomb of the orc, and believed even less our tale of being teleported from Paluur Draal. She asked if we found any treasures in our exploits.  Xoma mentioned the vampiric-smoke decanter, and a few other trinkets were mentioned, but then she cited something called "the goblins' key."

I never should have set foot in that tavern—the Bookmark. Serving coffee instead of proper ale, books lining the walls instead of trophies and weapons. Bah! That key has been nothing but trouble. But as much as I would like to be rid of it, we cannot risk releasing it to those who serve the Dragon Below. Cypher snuck the real key off of his neck while we bargained with the decoy. We tossed it up and after  brief inspection, the woman tossed down a rope-ladder bridge to us and said to hurry, before the "shrouds" came.

A brief glance back the way we came and there was a figure there. Ghostly almost, silent, in the shape a man, but not quite. Wrapped in a black death shroud, no discernible eyes or face. We began climbing the rope bridge. Halbazar climbed at the rear with me, manacled, but not offering resistance. Perhaps our luck had changed.  

Our luck hadn't changed. We heard the sounds of a struggle above us, and a female scream. Then a gnoll appeared, and we knew we weren't getting out without a fight. Severely disadvantaged on the rope, we fought our way up, while more shades appeared behind us. Xoma quickly used his thunder spell, the force of which seemed to break one of the gnolls against the rock wall behind it. Unable to fire my longbow, I threw a hand axe up at the gnoll, but without much success.  Magnus scrambled to the top, and I could hear him raging, and a gnoll fell past us into the pit. Cyzicus also climbed up and began attacking the gnolls. Xoma attempted to stab one of the humanoids in the foot with his dagger, and then climbed over, only to be knocked back off. Cypher was able to catch him just in time, but was forced to drop one of the pieces of armor we collected in the process. Maybe we can go back to collect it....

Not likely. More shades were coming. I slashed at them with my scimitar, but it was doing little at best.  It took Xoma's magic Cypher's touch, and Doongul's spells to obliterate them. Then I heard singing up above, reverberating across the stone walls of the hollow tower we were emerging into. Haunting and beautiful and not necessarily a bad thing. It almost inspired.

When I managed to get to the top, I could see Magnus and Cyzicus had dealt with the nearby gnolls, but Cyzicus was acting...strange. He advanced on the gnolls calmly and what appeared to be an old woman with wings at the opposite end of the chamber, near another exit (Magnus was standing in the doorway of the near one) but he did not attack them. It was clear this bird-woman was working with the gnolls, he wasn't loosing his arrows, what was he doing?  Everyone else managed to get up out of the pit but not in time to stop Cyzicus from disappearing out the other door with the winged woman. A harpy! The source of the beatific singing, with a face uglier than Khyber.

Magnus charged on the gnolls as and felled one, but the other gnoll brought down Magnus with a hard swing of his axe. With Doongul too far away to help Magnus, we then heard Cyzicus scream in pain beyond the open doorway. Xoma managed to get close enough to Magnus to use the vampiric cloud-potion to revive Magnus. Bursting outside, we found Cyzicus had wised up to the harpy's tricks and was fighting her—though she'd already torn ribbons of flesh off him. 

After the harpy and her gnolls were dead, we took stock of where we were. It seemed to be an old watchtower, which had fallen into disrepair. Xoma and Cypher decided to walk through the inside again, to see if we could get that armor back. I walked along outside the south of the tower, while Cyzicus went along the north. Magnus and Doongul stayed where they were.

As Xoma and Cypher got about halfway through the tower, more shades began silently floating up to them.  The pair ran for the far exit, and as they exited, it seemed the shades could not. Tempting fate (no, that's too kind—mooning fate and yelling “Nyah nyah, can't touch this!” is more like it), the pair attacked the shades.  The shades then stepped from the tower and fought back. Magnus ran through the tower to flank the four shades, and as Cyzicus and I rounded the corner to see the fight, we jumped in and lent our aid. Doongul was no where to be seen. His peg leg really slows him down.  

We thought we could make quick work of the shades, but four more rose from the pit. Magnus was no longer two against one (which if they were flesh and bone opponents, I'm sure he could have handled easily) bu six against one. Even a barbarian cannot stand against such foes, especially a half dozen incorporeal, ghastly shades, against whom normal weapons such as swords and maces didn't do well.  

As Magnus made for the other exit, Cyzicus disengaged from the shades we were fighting, perhaps thinking we had everything under control, but likely not wanting to lose any more arrows. Cypher infused my scimitar with some sort of power, and ran after Cyzicus.

Magnus had made it out of the tower, and was rounding the north face, passing Doongul and the manacled Halbazar in the process. I feared the battle would be over before the dwarf got there with his undead-burning spells, but I was unable to land a hit on the shades. Xoma and Doongul put the remainder of the original four shades down with their spells, and we ran after Cyzicus and Cypher.  

As he ranged further, Cypher spotted a bow on the ground.  It looked to be a weapon that could have shot the spiraled arrow we saw in the umber hulk, as it was adorned with serpentine carvings and spirals. Magnus said he'd seen shapes flying off in this southern direction, and so we set off in that direction, giving chase, but also just relishing being in the fresh air again.

It was evening, with the gray moon Barrakas full in the sky, and to the north we could see the light of a camp beyond a low hill. Also in the north, difficult to see in the darkness, loomed the silhouette of mountains. We didn't know where we were just yet.

#22 - Passages and Eyes

Scribblings of a Warforged Scholar On Adventure 

While the party healed and I repaired myself, I took some time to instruct Xoma on the ancient language of the dar. It was very nice to have someone interested in academics, as opposed to mere treasure and glory. In fact, this was such a good time that I made a note to learn a few new languages myself once I've returned to a place of study.

When everyone awoke from the slumber that most living creatures require, I prepared to solve the problem of the spiked pit. All lights were extinguished and I used the Emperor’s Key to command the tomb doors to open once again. They did so with a bit of noise, making me feel uneasy, though nothing amiss occurred. Xoma whispered that he saw a crude barricade erected at the far end of the hallway, atop the pit, and it seemed there may be a tuft of gnoll hair peeking out from the top.  Doongul noted that there was something not quite right about the ceiling above the pit but Xoma climbed down anyway.

The Emperor's Key medallion

He was supposed to signal the rest of us to come follow him by producing a burst of magical fire. However, in a few minutes, he returned and described a trap he had discovered. I detached my new armbow and followed him down, readying my tools and a torch. This is why I was constructed! I was forged for trapfinding, not war. The trap itself turned out to be a simple pressure plate system. I decided that it was better to jam the mechanism—whose full dimensions I could not discern in the darkness—than to disable it outright. Using two daggers that Xoma had been hiding, I carefully jammed the trap at its furthest seam and waited. After just a few seconds, I heard the telltale sounds of a mechanism engaging and then the ceiling broke apart like crumbling dirt. Organic vines shot down from the ceiling! I managed to dodge the vines but Xoma was not so skillful. The drow was summarily hanged by the neck and pulled upward, drawn as high as floor’s original level, thirty feet above the spikes!

As I regained my composure, an arrow pierced the composite plating in my side. The missile originated somewhere by the rudimentary barricade. I tried to spy the aggressor but there was nothing to see there; the torch could not pierce the darkness at this distance. To offset this tactical disadvantage, I hurled the torch up and out towards the barricade, interpolating the distance from how far I had  walked in the pit and where the gnolls were seen previously. The torch landed some distance beyond the crude barrier, silhouetting two creatures I deduced to be gnolls.


Several of the party members immediately made use of the light source and lay siege to the aggressors.  Unfortunately, the gnolls chose an advantageous perch with excellent cover, despite the improvised nature of their barricade. The silhouette effect enabled several of my party members to take aim but they were at a significant disadvantage, especially through the forest of vines now hanging between both parties. Even the hairy Reacher Cyzicus was unable to strike his target, no doubt more upset about the lost munitions than the miss. After dislodging the crude gnoll arrow from my corpus, sensing several droplets of precious alchemical fluid seeping out of the breach in my plating, I realized the severity of my position in the pit, and the even more precarious situation that Xoma faced against these foes. With a well practiced thought, I infused myself with a trace of arcane power and sensed the now familiar feeling of a bolt of pure energy discharging from the middle digit of my right hand. I didn't bother to follow the force missile’s path to its target and instead hurried back towards the near end of the pit; years of study and the past week’s practicum ensure the magic missile will find it’s mark.

After a satisfying "yip!" issued from the targeted gnoll, the far end of the hallway went dark again and the gnoll attacks ceased for the moment. The magic missile had more than the usual effect. My companions began to regroup down in the pit now as the drow disensnared himself. He evoked magical darkness about the far ledge of the pit and the party began making its way up the wall via ropes and grappling hooks thrown by Doongul and Xoma. Upon connecting his hook, Cyzicus wasted no time in reaching the top, shrouding himself in the darkness, followed by Rendar, Doongul, Magnus, and Xoma. It was a curious site to watch the one-legged dwarf shimmy up a rope. They made short work of the three gnolls who waited there. Cyzicus eviscerated one with his scimitar and Magnus sent a spear through the other. With a great deal of yipping, the third ran off down one of the passages. Fifteen arrows and two longbows were recovered and I was hoisted up the rope along with Halbazar, who had been far more compliant since the trip through the portal.

I followed the party down the middle of three cave passages, pursuing the gnoll that fled. I could sense that the air was becoming fresher, perhaps leading out of this cumbersome subterrane. A swarm of bats flew past quite suddenly, startled by something more than mere gnolls. The passage soon ended in a small cavern with a single, prone gnoll. He was severely damaged, one of his arms hacked away and the gnoll himself visibly shaken. He hardly responded to the party’s presence. Apparently our enemies have an enemy of their own.

Two new gnolls suddenly flanked us from behind and, in broken Common, demanded an explanation for our presence and the sad state of their compatriot. Why they did not attack us was unclear. Perhaps they preferred diplomacy to violence, a welcome change in my opinion.  Far too much blood has been spilled on this adventure. One of them asked something about an "under-beast." As Rendar began discourse with the leader, something happened in the cavern.

Entering through one earthen wall was an extremely large, bipedal insectoid that I had never seen before. Bulkier than an insect, possessing a carapace, massive claws, a set of mandibles, and strange eyes, it appeared to be a formidable foe. My companions closest to the creature unleashed their heavy arsenal. Doongul called forth a powerful blow of invisible thunder from the deity Onatar but it proved to have minimal effect. The drow set a magical web upon the creature. This was a new spell he recently studied; I couldn't help but appreciate the wizard’s dedication to the sciences of the arcane. The creature immediately broke free, however, and advanced on Xoma. It was at this point that I got a better, more studied look at the insectoid, at its abnormally placed four eyes...strange eyes...fascinating orbs with a capacity to...confuse?...no, infuse certainty into one's actions...?

...and so I realized suddenly that Rendar had been deceived by the “diplomacy” of the gnolls!

I grabbed the first weapon I could find—my sling, a simple weapon of rapid rotation and release—and launched a bullet at my enemy. A direct hit on the gnoll's forehead. Hah! He hadn't been expecting my initiative, giving me the upper hand in the exchange and him a crack to his skull and immediate sanguine leak. This taught him to mess with a trained scout of Boranel’s-own Construct Engineering Brigade. Rendar finished the job with curious exasperation, perhaps flustered by his misinterpretation of who the true enemies were. I slung another bullet at the second gnoll, who I now realized should have been everyone’s primary target all along!

Yet Xoma, Magnus, and Doongul continued to engage the hulking insect. Foolish! That was not our enemy! Worse, I saw Magnus, that barbarian dolt, turn his formidable bone-spiked mace on Xoma. Why did he do this? In response, the wizard cast an illusion of dazzling blue lights at Magnus and the hulking creature. Had my companions completely lost the capacity for rational thought? Why wouldn't they attack the gnoll aggressors? It seemed I would have to handle this myself.

Between me and Rendar the first gnoll was now disabled, but the second fled—a fact which may prove troublesome later. When I turned back towards the cavern, I saw Rendar—he'd better watch himself—had joined the fight against the insectoid. A previously unseen cloaked figure fired an arrow into the carapace of the creature from high above at the top of the cavern, spurting acid from the breach. I wondered if Cyzicus would like those arrows for his bow.

As I attempted to understand the tactics of this battle, I looked back into the four eyes of the creature and clarity overtook me again! Now that the gnolls had been beaten, this insectoid was the priority threat! I swung my sling again with carefully honed skill, and sent a bullet at the hulk. It lodged directly into one of its great eyes! Boranel would have been proud.

Rendar was finally able to finish off the strange creature after Xoma cast an effective spell of enfeeblement, weakening the monster. The Tharashk half-orc expertly fired an arrow directly into another eye, permanently disabling the creature—as testified by its crashing to the ground. Victory at last but uncertainty gripped me once again. What had it been that those gnolls had been saying?  What was this beast we just defeated?  And who was the cloaked figure?  Things seemed so much simpler during the battle...