#92 - Karrnathi Carnage

One of the items in the room that Magnus paid little attention to was a book. Within were five “chapters,”
each preceded by an elaborate illustration, an arcane symbol, and a name. The pages that followed each of these were written in a script none could read. The illustrations, meanwhile, each depicted some sort of arcanist with his or her back to the viewer, each in a different but dramatic scene.

The five pages were:

1. “Garrek of Karrnath”: The illustration depicts a starkly-dressed wizard in a Karrnathi military uniform standing before a bone knight and skeleton shock troops; his hands were manacled and his head was down as if in disgrace.
2. “Lukar of Thrane” – The illustration depicts a blue-, brown-, and silver-clad wizard with a rapier in one hand and his hand outstretched and spraying flame upon some sort of demonic creature.
3. "Lurinet of Aundair” - The illustration depicts an elaborately-dressed in a noblewoman’s robe, a wizardess is standing upon a balcony and looking down upon a city. There appears to be an angry mob gathering below her—they are either protesting her or rallying before her.
4. “Charise of Cyre”: The illustration depicts a swashbuckling wizardess aiming a hand crossbow at a squad of advancing warforged.
5. “Elidac of Breland”: The illustration depicts a dark-skinned wizard in a Brelish officer’s uniform commanding an army. The soldiers at the front of the army bear torches.

There was also a bookmark in the front of the book. Whenever it was placed on any of the illustrative pages, the corresponding arcane mark appeared on the door across the room. The PCs first tried placing it on the “Charise of Cyre” page, the fourth one in, the symbol appeared on the door but when Magnus went to open it, it didn’t move, and so he stopped and became…contrary and cross.

When it was determined that perhaps a correct order was needed, the ornate bookmark in the book was placed upon the first illustration’s pages, the one labeled “Garrek of Karrnath,” the arcane symbol appeared on the door and that allowed it open with no ill effects. Most of the group ascended into a dark stairway that appeared to stretch beyond the physical space of the tower itself. Clarion and Cypher stayed behind to deal with Magnus, and soon the others come back down as well.

Magnus continued to insist that the group should not be continuing up into the tower to speak with the wizard Elidac. He reminded his companions that their fight was below, with Trazzen, the evil governor and apparent vampire who they had set free and who now served Avashad. Magnus nearly convinced Cypher that turning back was the correct course…when Magnus began to relent and then come back into himself. He became agreeable again.

So the group ascended as one up the dark staircase and found themselves in a very unexpected place:

First Level: Garrek of Karrnath

Outdoors, under a sickly yellow sky. A battlefield, a narrow box canyon. A dead end, with dead soldiers strewn around the ground and blood spattered on the canyon wall before them. The dead men were soldiers of Thrane! The PCs themselves found that they themelves were arrayed in Karrnathi uniforms though their armor was not entirely different. On the ground before them one of the slain soldiers stirred. Not dead, merely dying, with a Karrnathi spear still driven into his back.

He began to plead for mercy, when footfalls from behind turned the party’s attention around. In the distance they could see other remnants of the battle that had just ended. This sure looked like a battle of the Last War. The Last War…which had ended nearly three years ago now. So was this all illusion?

Coming up to the hill toward them was a squad of Karrnathi undead soldiers. Skeletons, mostly, led by a commanding officer, a Karrnathi zombie in ornate plate armor. Unlike the mindless zombies raised by desecrated places or foul rites, the variety raised by the necromancers of Karrnathi and given authoritative positions were intelligent, resilient, and generally considered evil by all save the Karrns themselves. With this squad was a warforged titan the likes of which the party had not seen before.

It was somewhat smaller than most titans, but its armor was rife with long spikes. Upon which the corpses of the fallen had been skewered. A grisly construct that even Cypher and Clarion had never heard of before. As the party was arrayed in Karrnathi raiment, they were treated by the zombie commander and his squad with neutral demeanor, if not a great deal of respect. The zombie ordered them to make way for the “collector,” as he called the carrion-smelling construct.

They moved aside, and the warforged titan proceeded to skewer the living Thrane soldier, though the PCs made a failed attempt to dissuade this course of action. Once impales, the Thrane screamed in agony but did not die. Closer inspection revealed that the spike, while forming a hideous wound, likewise kept him from bleeding out.

The PCs made a few attempts to order the Thrane captive to be released, but the zombie commander would not relent. When they tried to speak with the captive, still impaled upon the construct’s arm, he whimpered and pleaded and was clearly afraid of them. At last, Clarion—paladin of Dol Arrah and an Aundairian who’d fought against Karrnath in his past—would tolerate this no more. He attacked the Karrnathi zombie, but the undead commander’s armor was strong.

Battle was joined. The skeletal warriors swarmed around both Clarion and Magnus, who engaged the commander, while Aleae and Simel sniped with spells, arrows, and blades. Cypher used a powerful, rusting infusion against the warforged titan just as it skewered Kard with one of its great spikes—a devastating wound that it would soon leverage fatally against him! Meanwhile, Cypher’s rusting spell wore away at its body like acid.

Kard has suffered the indignity of losing his hand to a troll once—what was one big metal spike? In agony, he still managed to speak a powerful prayer to Boldrei, a prayer of banishment. In one moment, the warforged titan threatened another devastating attack; in the next, it was gone, banished to another plane of existence. Kard was back on his feet again, and he warned the others that the titan would return in a minute’s time.

Clarion smashed the zombie commander to the ground while Magnus and Simel bore down upon him. Kard then channeled his divinity against the skeletons surrounding them, and all but one was turned to dust in an instant, utterly destroyed. They made short work of the remaining undead.

The party tried to learn more about their surroundings, and Simel began to assimilate some of the zombie commander’s uniform into his own—owing to his talents as a changeling and deceiver. When the warforged titan reappeared, the party worked together to take it down. Simel first tried to command it, attempting to pull rank by making his face resemble that of the zombie commander’s. But the effort failed and only violence might succeed.

When at last the titan was downed, the entire scene began to dissolve. Soon the PCs found themselves once again in the entrance room of the tower, with the book before them. They were still wearied by the battle, so it could not have been pure illusion. Aleae and Cypher believed they had experience some sort of phantasm—an illusion, when believed, that is capable of physical harm. But it had been exceedingly powerful and very real.

A small black sphere now sat upon the table, and Cypher took it (of course). The party also experimented with the stack of books, which appeared to inscribe the reader’s own thoughts on their blank pages.

When an attempt was made to move the bookmark of the main book to the fifth illustration, “Elidac of Breland,” the corresponding arcane symbol appeared on the door. But the door wouldn’t open and the one who tried it, Clarion, became instantly dejected and despairing of all things. The effect eventually wore off and the paladin was coaxed back out of his gloom when Kard spoke to him of the Sovereign Host.

So the bookmarked was moved to the next one in order—“Lukar of Thrane”—and the PCs ascended beyond the door as second time.