#86 - Parleys and Partings

Excerpt from the Cypher's Codex: The Scrawlings of a Warforged Scholar

Dar and I were standing in the Glyphstone Keep room staring at Magnus through what used to be the door. He had clearly broken it down, although I never locked it. Clarion asked if we were ok and I responded by asking how long we were in there. I had the impression that we had been under some powerful magical influences and I had no idea for how long we were trapped in that room.

I remember getting up from the drawing table in order to join the impending battle when the door closed and a humanoid figure appeared, from where and how I knew not. He interrogated Dar and me but anything more was but a fuzzy memory. Clarion said it had been only minutes. I tried to explain to them all I could but it was clear they had not fully dispatched with our latest enemies, so I ordered the party to move onwards.

I infused Rungo's wood and metal armor with a powerful enhancement to strengthen her‡ and increase her resolve and then sent Rungo ahead to scout the far room, where the lingering enemy combatants retreated. No one was there but Magnus found an open trap door in the room leading down. According to our map, this was the secret way to the stairs down to the deeper levels.

While the others were contemplating further action in that room, I noticed that Kard was in possession of the magical chalice from the fountain. What an exquisite artifact! I was compelled to learn more. He told me that there was a magical force with which he had been fighting since taking hold of the gigantic ten pound chalice. I steeled my resolve and picked up the cup in order to investigate its magical matrix. Immediately I felt the scrying mind of an unknown force but I fought it away and continued to peer into the artifacts matrix. I determined that there was powerful enchantment magic at play. Unfortunately by the time I was done, nary a minute later, the being on the other side of the magical tendrils leading out from this cup was able to divine from me my name and physical location. I had specifically tried not to keep any important information on the top layer of my thoughts, however I could not fight it completely.

I told Kard that we shouldn't touch the chalice any longer so he rolled it up in a carpet and we went in search of a safe location to stash it.  I disabled the lock in the door to the next room first.  It was a fortuitous move because the room turned out to be a storage area of some manner. Kard stashed the chalice behind several mattresses which were stacked vertically and I extinguished my infusion of light to ensure that the chalice magical light was completely hidden by the coverings. Using my tools I was able to lock the door again, but for added security of our prize I very carefully jammed the lock mechanism with some sealing wax and lint. It wouldn't stop a dedicated being from getting through that door, but it would slow them down and an indifferent creature might be prone to give up on any attempt.

While we were stashing the magical chalice, Magnus, Aleae, and Clarion had entered into a parlay down the stairs with Alain ir'Valish, the Blue Wraith, whom we had been seeking by order of Three. When Kard and I returned, the entire party moved further down the stairs to a small room where we spoke with Alain face to facel he who was there with an animated suit of armor as a guard. The Blue Wraith did not seem troubled by our presence, or our constant threats to his life (and Magnus issued many of these), as one might expect. Instead, he remained calm and maintained that our situation was hopeless and he offered us a diplomatic option forward. He demanded that we hand over our weapons and be safely escorted deeper into the Keep where those who were in charge would speak with us and potentially consider an alliance. Alain also insisted that he himself was a visitor, who had been invited by Governor Trazzen to Glyphstone Keep, and therefore his was a position of legitimacy. We, according to him, were the intruders. Trazzen, he said, was currently preoccupied by a project of some importance.

We already knew from Sylvander, the gnome forger, and from Three that there was reason to suspect a growing threat to Breland. Emperical evidence suggested this project was at least related to it. I threatened Alain ir'Valish one more time, stating that as an agent of the Brelish Crown I would have his head, attached or otherwise. It was then that he smiled at me and said that he would "see King Boranel cold and dead" before he would submit to incarceration. These words did not alleviate my growing anger, but he was offering us the means of a diplomatic meeting with the other members of his criminal cohorts.

This might have been our own only chance. I immediately handed over my melee weapons, dagger and rapier—which the animate suit of armor accepted—and I instructed my companions to do the same. However no one else seemed to understand the opportunity or gravity intrinsic to this situation and I was alone in my surrender. In fact, Alain was uninterested in continuing discussions after that. When another threat was made against him, he gestured for his guard to open the door at the other end of the room and this somehow sprang a trap on us, unleashing razor sharp bronze spears from the wall, damaging most members of the party including myself and Rungo.

Magnus waded into the wizard, swinging his maul in a fury, but the weapon passed harmlessly through him. Alain's appearance seemed to be illusionary. The animate armor was not, however, and Magnus switched his rage against it to devastating effect. Dar quickly set a wall of pure elemental wind upon Alain, in case magic would avail us, but he was neither affected by the wall nor damaged in any way. It was clear to me that he was simply not present but had projected himself by illusion. We quickly dispatched the animate suit of armor with a coordinated attack.

As we pressed further down the next set of stairs, Magnus intercepted a human female only a little younger than Alain, but Dar quickly realized this was Lorsanna ir'Valesh, a woman she had fought with during the war. Magnus wanted to kill her, and Aleae didn't trust her, but Clarion and Kard told him to hold back whilst Dar communicated with her. As a sign of her unwillingness to fight, Lorsanna offered Simel her wand, but I took hold of it before he could touch it in case it was cursed. It was clear to me that this woman, like Alain, was an arcanist of some kind.

Lorsanna was insistent that we needed to leave Glyphstone Keep, lest we be slain by enemies too numerous and powerful to overcome. She herself wished to be free of this place and she told Dar that she teleport them to relative safey, and to Dar's brother, Sah, who was allegedly trapped in a prism as she was. Dar was clearly enticed, though not at first immediately sure she should abandon our mission. We pushed Lorsanna to reveal more of what she knew of this place. She cited several important facts, each of which I would have preferred to record in greater depth. However, they are summarized here.

• Governor Trazzen had been set up by Avashad as the commander of Glyphstone Keep. He is overseeing one of Avashad’s projects in the bowels of the dungeon involving the construction of what Lorsanna has heard referred to as a “plague machine.”
• Previously, only the oni, Hiraz, had been dwelling in the dungeons of Glyphstone. With the arrival of Avashad, an alliance was made between them.
• Hiraz had installed a teleportation circle somewhere on the level below this one, allowing the transport of creatures from Droaam such as gnolls.
• Harpies, also, had come from Droaam. We knew this already from Sorrel, Hiraz's brother.
• Knights of the Order of the Emerald Claw had come. We knew this because we'd seen some, and Sylvander had also said this.
• The Children of Winter, which from Dar we had learned was a hostile group of druids, were also represented here, and led by an "archdruid" named Frost. Lorsanna was particularly afraid of this human.
• Alain ir'Valish, although he had accepted the invitation to come and meet with Trazzen, was here primarily because he is interested in discovering the fate of the Brelish wizard Elidac. We had heard this name before from Three, and Kard is also eager to seek out this man for reasons of his own.
• Alain believes he has found where Elidac is: He discovered a hidden stairwell that leads back up to the ground level of Glyphstone Keep, where a new "floating tower" is situated amidst the ruins of this ancient fortress. He believes that is where Elidac resides. According to Three, four like-minded wizards from the other of the Five Nations went with him.

All of these facts—especially the one threat of of a machine to be used against Breland—confirmed for us that we were in the right place and definitely were not going to leave, as Lorsanna had advised. Simel had come with us because there was a bounty on the head of the Blue Wraith and because the Order of the Emerald Claw was involved in these goings-on. He would not be leaving anytime soon.

Lorsanna had suggest, during the course of this hurried discussion, that she and her entire family were dominated by someone or something, and it was not Avashad and his allies. She was hesitant to say who. This was reminiscent of the nature of Hiraz's slave, but I suspected something even greater. Dar, who Lorsannah referred to solely as "Loh" (her changeling name?) insisted on knowing just who it was that governed the ir'Valish family and was the reason behind her actions. Whatever their history together, Dar—Loh—obviously believed Lorsanna owed her more explanations. I do like explanations. They are productive.


Lorsanna grew quiet, then finally said "Azohirr" owned them.

"Who is that?" Dar pressed.

"A devil," Lorsanna admitted, which certainly gives credence to the rumors we'd heard that the ir'Valish family was involved with devil worship.

Dar and Lorsanna exchanged further, emotional information, relating to past events, including the prismatic prison where we first encountered, and freed, Dar. Dar believed her prison to be betrayal, but Lorsanna claimed it was for her own protection. They did not explain this to my satisfaction, but I realized there wasn't time. Lorsanna was pressed for time. She said that if she remained, her life was forfeit, and that if she died, the devil would "claim" her. I assume she was referring to her soul, which is of course a difficult point to quantify. Nevertheless, I am now curious about the nature of diabolic acquisition, but that can be worked out another time.

Finally, Dar accepted her offer to go to her brother Sar. Lorsanna asked for her wand back and I asked her why should would have a need of it. She asked me, with great interest in my answer, if I cared about Dar's future safety. I looked at Dar, a bit perplexed by the question stated so bluntly. I handed the wand back to Lorsanna ir'Valesh, as the situation has made her an ally.

After a brief exchange of salutations between Dar and the other party members, Lorsanna cast a spell of teleportation—that is no simple spell—and she and Dar vanished together.

#85 - Shape the Flowing River

Translated from the Pelgah do Sahlessh [The Journal of Sahlessh]

When I first emerged from the darkness, I was groggy. There were others around me, but I seemed unable to take things in. My mind was fuzzy, like gazing through the flurries of the first snow of winter. As clarity returned, I took stock of those around me.

They did not immediately attack me; perhaps they are friends.

A huge humanoid with purple skin and ivory horns loomed over the group. Eyes as bright as a field of snow pierced out from the pools of black surrounding them. Strapped to his back was the same weapon that plunged me into the darkness over a year ago. Next to the fiend stood a Bringer of Fire! A giant man with bits of dragon scale and flame-like tattoos covering his body. Surely, the giant who abducted me must be colluding with the Seren traitor.

Perhaps they were not friends after all.

Next to the Seren were six from the Land of Demons—and a beast unlike any I have seen before. Two of the demons were men, one clad in thin sheets of metal and carrying a hammer and a shield, the other wearing a long cape and a bow slung over his back. There were two women as well: One wearing an armor that reminded me of leaves and trees, and carrying a staff. The other was surely the frailest person I have ever encountered, likely elf-kind. I did not know it was possible to stand with legs so thin.

I can only assume that the last two were korshimi di aryte [machines of war]. Our people have heard of these constructs with their bodies of wood, stone, and metal that have been used to wage war. One of the pair had pipes and tubes along its back and cast a shadow that any Seren would be proud to call his own. The other was hard to discern given how many things were strapped to its body. Next to this one was a dog of the same nature as the korshimi.

The Seren, who calls himself Magnus, spoke to me. He had many questions, but I was reluctant to answer them. Was this all an elaborate ruse to find out what the Frostblades know of the Bringers of Fire and of Katashka? If it is a ruse, then why did Magnus offer me a weapon? Perhaps he knew I had no need of it.

I was wary of all of them, but after a brief discussion with the purple-skinned fiend, I was made to realize that if they had meant me harm, it would have arrived already. This group is my best chance of exiting this place and reviving the Winter Coalition. The giant, which the others called an oni, then parted ways with us to tend to his own affairs. All of us were allegedly in the dungeons below a very old fortress known as Glyphstone Keep. The oni knew these people and was, as near as I can guess, an ally if not a friend.

We left the room and began to explore the area. An enormous glowing chalice rested upon a raised area surrounded by water. The chalice cast a dim light throughout the chamber. Three of the group, one of the korshimi, the human in metal armor, and the frail one lingered there to examine the pool and the chalice.

The others crossed the expanse and came to a wall with a row of doors. We approached the first one and found it locked. The other korshimi played at the door with some tools and opened it.
I could see immediately that the room did not hold Saralith or my belongings, nor did it provide an exit from this place, so there was no use in remaining there. I left the group and began to examine the other doors to see if any of them were useful. I proceeded to try the doors one by one to see if any of the others were unlocked. When I reached the penultimate door, the final door opened and two figures emerged.

One was clearly a filg [ghoul]. I have encountered their kind before. The other seemed to be human, but I could not be certain in the dim amber light. He pointed at me and the filg rushed towards me. I called out to my new… companions? “Clax voenllyl!” [Take heed]

As the filg neared, an idea came to mind. It was like the sun as it climbs the mountain peaks. At first it is the hint of something, but as it crests, suddenly the world is bathed in light. I knew my course of action. I had to learn the true nature of the Bringer of Fire and those from the Land of Demons. What better way to learn their intentions than to see how they defend the weak and the helpless: me!

I could tell from their battle cries that the group would soon join in the combat; I just didn’t know which side they would join. Just in case they were going to join the filg, I moved to the far side to ensure that I would not be flanked.

As I moved within range of the filg, I immediately realized that this one was different. Its smell was not that of a normal filg. Usually filgi do not have an odor, except from the carrion they devour. Their flesh, despite their state of undeath, is like the flesh of an animal frozen in the ice, it does not rot. Yet this one had the stench of a Seren warrior after his rite of passage. The aroma was pungent, putrid and was sweet, much like the smell of the very old before they die. I was so surprised that I did not even think to temper my breath and I inhaled deeply. It felt as though death had crawled into my lungs. The itch from inside was so distracting I nearly let the filg hit me; fortunately, my body remembered the training that my mind forgot and I shifted my weight as the thing’s claws reached for my face, narrowly avoiding the blow.

I punched towards the wretched thing’s head. I would surely have hit it, had I not been pulling my blows. Instead, I allowed my attack to veer off the centerline and glance the filg’s temple harmlessly.
The group approached. From the fountain, the large korshimi with the pipes trundled towards me, glowing all the while. He was followed by the frail one. Why would she run towards a fight? I saw no sign of the man wrapped in metal. Magnus charged out from the room at full speed carrying a torch and a white club that looks to be made of bone. The cloaked man also exited the room, but he did not close much distance, instead he loosed a pair of arrows. I was lucky they did not hit me.

The filg again tried to sink its razor sharp claws into me. Filgi can be fast, but this one was not. It is easy to avoid a blow when it approaches in a straight line. It is also easy to make it seem as though the blow was closer than it was. I kicked out at the filg’s knee, hoping to off balance it somewhat. As my foot contacted its flesh the filg shifted towards the right. I withdrew my foot and launched out my hand to the creature’s throat, aiming just to the left so that I would miss by a narrow margin.
It takes skill to fight without weapons. It takes great skill to make a fight look genuine. I believe today, I had great skill.

Before the creature could swing for me a third time two arrows sank themselves into its back. Not many could make a shot at this distance in dim light: the cloaked man has great skill as well. The arrows hurt the filg; its next attack did not have the same zeal that the first two had. I side-stepped its swipe and launched my foot at its ribs. There is a spot just under the twelfth where you can burst the spleen of a man with a hard kick. Filgi are not men any longer and have no need of their spleen.

The fight was going well. I was unharmed and could see that this group was clearly on my side. Soon I would be able to see their full nature. Many things can be hidden, but one cannot hide how they fight. When you have trained in the martial arts, you can read a man’s mind by watching him in combat. When Magnus joined the fray, he dropped his torch and took his great maul in two hands. Without breaking stride swept the creature's lower half away with the marvelous weapon, which seemed to channel the cold of the mountains in its path. He bears a strange weapon for one of his tribe.

This fight was over.

“Mobi re throdenilt crodr wer cuaili.” [There are more inside the room], I said.

I scooped up the torch and ran into the room to find the armored human who had first exited with the filg, but to my great surprise, the room was uninhabited. There was a desk and some furniture scattered throughout the room, but no occupants. In the mountains, when you want to find prey, you follow their tracks in the snow. I began to look for areas in which the dust of the room had been disturbed. No sooner had I begun my search than the frail one alerted us that the human wrapped in metal—did she call him Kard?—was in trouble. It was time for me to prove my intentions to them.

From my distance, I could see that Kard had wrested the chalice from its position and was being engaged by what looked like a serpentine column of water.

We raced towards his location. Kard was fumbling at his belt trying to douse the animate column of water with vials of his own. Considering the religious iconography of his armor, I had to assume it was holy water he employed. But water is water—what could he hope to achieve by this? Is it not like brushing the snow from your sleeve in the midst of a blizzard? Even as I struggled to grasp the utility of this action, the creature morphed with blinding speed The creature evaded the liquid from the vial as easily as I evaded the filg’s attacks. Kard was clearly out matched.

The cloaked archer turned his lethal bow towards the water creature and began to shout slurs about its father—does water have paternal origins? I question the sanity of this cloaked man. The frail elf gestured at the water demon and flame shot from her hands! I have never seen magic like this. We revere the power of frost and ice, not fire. Is she in liege with the same forces that govern Magnus? The water of the demon steamed a bit, but it did not seem greatly disturbed by the fire. Even I know that water defeats fire, for it is everlasting.

As I neared the melee, I decided to demonstrate that the power of ice was superior. I called upon the magics that the Sacred Whites taught my kinsmen and I: I transformed some of the water of the pool into a staircase of ice, linking Kard, who stood upon the plinth at its center, to the fountain's rim. In one swift move, I had created an escape route for the reckless human and a path for us to engage the water demon. Hopefully my new allies—if allies they are—will take note of the true elemental hierarchy.

Kard broke free from the grasp of the water demon and as swiftly down the ice as he dared, still carrying the oversized chalice. Magnus heaved his club once again, and the archer pierced the creature with two more arrows and the demon’s form lost its cohesion. It splashed back into the pool, dead or dispersed, we could not tell which. Kard still had the chalice hoisted upon his shoulder, now emitting an amber hue. Aleae—I am now beginning to retain their names—determined that needed to bring it to the korshimi, Cypher to inspect.

Finally, we were not running any longer. We returned to the room where Cypher and the woman Dar had been left behind, and we found the door closed and our entrance barred. Aleae listened and reported hearing voices in Draconic—one of which did not belong to Cypher or Dar. I heard her attempt to speak to me in my native tongue earlier and I’m not convinced that she would be capable of understanding what was being said, door or no door. She appeared to know several languages but her mastery of Draconic was limited. I listened as well, but the door was too thick to make out the voices clearly. Growing impatient with inaction, Magnus decided to kick down the door. He’s very strong, but perhaps not as wise. The door won this battle.

As the echoes of his effort began to die down, our common enemies returned. The door at the far end of the same wall, where the filg had first emerged, opened again and armored figures loosed crossbow bolts ineffectually at us. After some return fire from our archer, eight new figures emerged. There were three filgi, three olqeini [skeletons] and two kaegro [undead] that I did not recognize. I quickly positioned myself between the monsters and the group and waited to see what would happen next.

The kaegro ran towards us with alarming speed, followed closely by the filgi and the olqeini. At the same time, several crossbow bolts skittered about the floor near us. They had missed, but not by much. As the evil group neared, Aleae once again began to speak her mystic words and a storm to rival the weather of the dragons appeared locally over the evil things. Ice began to fall from the air in huge chunks, battering the olqeini into dust. This elf learns quickly Indeed, she has already noted the power of ice. The filgi and kaegro were injured, but continued to come towards us. I thought that Aleae’s magic was complete, but to my great surprise, seven bolts of magical energy emerged from her fingers—surprising her?—and slammed into the two kaegro, injuring them gravely

The cloaked one, Simel, set to work with his bow once again, landing arrow after arrow into the torsos of the kaegro. The large korshimi, Clarion, and I raced towards the kaegro to engage them, while Magnus lingered, determined to prove his strength was greater than the door’s.

As I came within range, I struck out with my fist towards the first kaegro’s chin. The feeling of knuckle meeting flesh is quite satisfying, particularly because it gauges the perfect range to follow with the elbow. My elbow snapped its head around to an even more unnatural angle and it crumpled to the ground. I continued onwards towards the second kaegro. The glowing korshimi with the pipes, Clarion, reached it first and swiftly dispatched it from this realm. Magnus seemed to make some headway with the door. It was now shattered in pieces, but the pieces were suspended in the air, still effectively barring the way. How long will he persist? It is like waiting for the bear to wake at the end of winter, will he not join the fight?”

We had only a moment before the filgi set upon us. One came towards me and had luck on its side as it slashed its claws across my chest. I could feel the chill of death in those foul nails and the toxins of its evil drained into me. My body lost its normal alacrity. I was no longer in control of my limbs and I slumped to the floor, paralyzed. Finally, a true test of character! Would this group save me, or leave me to the lifeless beasts that beset us. My lingering doubts were washed away instantly.

Simel loosed another set of arrows—the man has an endless supply!—into the chest of the beast, attempting to draw its attention away from the feast my body presented to it. Clarion engaged the other two filgi. Kard appeared to realize that the evil beasts were a larger threat than the door that would not open. He raised his hand and his book and began to speak words of faith with great conviction. The unliving things were clearly disturbed by the display of light and power. They shrieked and began to flee.

The prospect of being paralyzed.
(Particularly by a ghoul.)

I am not sure how this will turn out, but I now believe that I can trust this group. If I survive, I will have to tell them of my mission and hope that they will aid me in this most crucial endeavor.