#112 - A Worm, a Wraith, and the Promise of Death

From the Annals of the Gateekeper Izzeth, Druid of Dagger Wood

The sound of a hard chitinous plate hitting stone is very distinctive, the sound of eight of them doing it in succession even more so. After the suit of armor reanimated itself and called for help, two giant scorpions emerged from further down the tunnel. Perhaps the wounds of my past were not as healed as I thought, for the sight of these beasts shook me to my core. In a glance, I was transported forty years into the past. In the Obsidian City, the place of my birth, these beasts would have been revered—if not worshiped as the Vulkoori do. Still, they represent strength and power. To me, they represent a lifetime of abuse. As a half-breed in a city where worth is measured in bloodlines, I wasn't even a second-class citizen. I was tormented relentlessly, only finding respite when I was sent out of the city into the jungles to perform menial chores. I left that place and never thought I'd see these foul things again. How naive.

I know from those times that giant scorpions are incredibly fast, capable of striking with both pincers and their tail in the blink of an eye. The claws are dangerous, capable of trapping a person easily, but the stinger in the tail is the true menace. Within is a wicked poison. In the Obsidian City, the Sulatar would use the poison as an ink to scribe arcane patterns onto their bodies, much the way Magnus has adorned himself with castoff dragon scales. Some of the drow who were most heavily inked in this way were said to have developed immunity against the venom. We were not likely to be so lucky today.

In addition to their speed, scorpions have extremely poor eyesight, but they make up for it by sensing vibrations with their feet, allowing them to "see" quite some distance. It makes it difficult to sneak up on them or catch them by surprise.

The shock of seeing them was so great that I was flustered and could only rely on the spells that I had used thousands of times in the past. I muttered the words and called forth a spark of fire, which grew into a small sphere, which I then hurled at the closest of the scorpions. The next thing I knew, a giant ball of fire had engulfed the two scorpions and burnt the life out of them. It took me a few moments to realize that it was Aleae who had cast fireball and not my flame, that had dispatched them. This reminded me that I had found powerful friends with the potential to overshadow my past.

At that point, an impossibly large worm issued from the left-hand passage—the one that led to Arafin's former lair. The worm was wider than Magnus was tall, at least eight feet in diameter and I could only guess how long it was since much of it was still emitting from the dark tunnel. Its skin had a dusky purple hue to it. On one end was a mouth of extremely sharp teeth, arranged in neat concentric rows. At the other end, I knew we would find a stinger, also capable of injecting a vile poison likely far more dangerous than even scorpion venom.

With my composure regained, I reached up to the unseen moons above and called down their light upon the animate suit of armor. A cool dim light shone down from above, bathing the armor and searing it. At this point, Clarion went forward and grappled with the armor directly. It is still a strange sight to see warforged at work, for their nature is unclear. Still, Clarion's mass was the greater and her purposefully held the animate armor within the burning moonlight even as he struck it with his fists.

Seeing that situation in hand, I then tapped back into the magic of the Dragon Between—Eberron herself—and metamorphosed myself into a giant boa constrictor. While I wouldn't be as large as the purple worm, I would be close, and perhaps I could present myself as a target, sparing my new companions some damage. I also knew that if I could slink my coils around the worm, I would be able to squeeze it tight and make it easier for my companions to strike.

Magnus and Simel were closest to the worm and were able to react first to its emergence. Magnus swung his might bone mace into the worm with a wet, slapping sound, but did not seem to draw its attention. Simel, on the other hand, had. He attempted to pierce its hide with his rapier, but it was a tiny weapon against such a colossal beast. As he raised the weapon to plunge it through its hide, the tip caught the floor and it spilled out of his hand. Clattering to the ground with a resounding ring, the weapon came to rest nearly ten feet from him, directly under the bulk of the worm's body. Wynn reacted with lightning reflexes and charged to within striking distance where she quickly landed three quick strikes with her partisan. Against such a sizeable creature, the reach of her weapon was obviously useful.

Aleae, who had lingered at the back of the group, now found herself quite close to the action. She produced a gaudy wand adorned with gems and filigree work from her pocket, leveled it at the worm, and released unknown magical energies. When one is in combat things happen very quickly. The body responds to this by making time seem to slow down, in this way the balance of nature is maintained. The wand being leveled, the stream of energy pouring forth, and the time before the effect manifested, seemed to last an eternity. When the eternity was over, a blue shimmer formed from the top of the cavern all the way to the floor, completely engulfing the worm. Another eternity elapsed before I realized that the blue shield did not seem to have any effect on the worm.

Aleae is quite confusing. She is capable of wreaking massive devastation on our smallest foes, but when something larger is about, she seems ineffective. I don't know what her plan is, but I think I will speak to her at our next opportunity to make some sense of it all. In the mean time, I'll have to show her how to have an effect on a beast that nearly a hundred feet long.

I slithered into the worm's space, sometimes going over its body, sometimes below. I coiled around it in many places and then when I knew it would be unable to wriggle itself free, I began to squeeze. I could feel its soft insides being compressed. It tried to wriggle, but I was stronger. It was firmly within my grasp. Now it was our turn to strike.

Magnus saw his opportunity and flew into some sort of rage, whirling his bone club as if it weighed no more than a drumstick. He landed several hard blows while I held the creature immobile—each hit from the blade-edge of the mace dislodged purple flesh and jellied gore. Simel loosed four arrows in the nictitation of a membrane, all finding their target. Wynn began to open some deep gashes in the beast with her mighty polearm. Lastly, Aleae, clearly inspired by my action, spoke her magical words and launched a thunderous attack on the worm, which caused it to squeal in pain.

Things were going very well, until the worm's tail pierced clean through my snake body. The pain was astounding but brief. Had it not been for my training, I certainly would not have been able to maintain my concentration on the moonbeam that was still seeping the unlife out of the suit of armor.
The venom injected into my assumed form defeated it, and I found myself forced back into my natural body and fell to the floor. The worm then reared itself to nearly its full height and slammed down on Magnus, who seem for a moment to be swallowed whole. When the worm pulled back to consume its prize, we saw Magnus rising up again on the far side. He must have rolled free just before the maw could close around him. Instead, it got a mouthful of broken rock.

Arafin called forth some magical flame to scorch the worm, while I transformed back into the snake. I tried to get around the worm again, but it was more savvy to my intention and deftly repositioned itself just before I could cinch my hold down. Magnus, Simel and Wynn continued to pepper the worm with their blows, causing considerable damage. Clearly the beast was hurt, but in its mindless pursuit of a meal, it fought fearlessly on.

Aleae began to speak and before she was finished, I knew that she was calling forth another fireball. Her ways are starting to become familiar. The fireball exploded around the worm high in the tunnel, plunging nearly one third of it into flame and eliciting another monstrous shriek. Hopefully all those close enough to hear would be encouraged to run the opposite direction, rather than see what the commotion was. We were not subtle in our advance of these tunnels.

The worm struck out at Aleae with its tail, but Aleae was able to dodge out of the way. The other end of the worm reared and launched itself at Wynn, who was able to flatten herself to the ground and roll to safety just before the teeth could envelop her. The worm and I continued our wrestling match, but clearly I was in a different weight class, being nearly half its size.

For all of our efforts, the worm was clearly slowing down. It was oozing from many wounds, some arrow holes, some slashes from Wynn's partisan. It was burnt, cracked, crushed, squeezed, and if it had legs, it surely would have walked with a limp. Like most things in life, its end wasn't remarkable.
Magnus smashed it in several places with his mace as Simel sunk another arrow into it just behind its head. Wynn swung her partisan and on the second strike, the thing fell to the ground.

With only the suit of armor left, I slithered over and coiled myself around it, then squeezed my body tight, taking over for Clarion. I could feel the metal bending beneath my grasp like a cheap metal gauntlet under the weight of a boulder. Simel ran over and as he did, his bow transformed. The bowstring unhooked and the two ends twisted and wrapped around to become a staff, which he brought down upon the suit's helmet, denting it mightily. The armor lost its animating power and it collapses to the ground, inert.

How most people
(including Magnus)
picture Magnus's end.

With the immediate threat dispatched, we knew that we had to move on quickly. The noise of the fight would certainly attract other denizens of this place to us. Arafin insisted we continue in the same direction, toward the "upper halls" of Glyphstone Keep. She wanted nothing to do with her former lair. If a purple worm had taken up residence, it could not be a pleasant place.

We continued down the tunnel and after some time came to a fifty-foot stretch of passageway that was covered in a black tar like substance with a noxious aroma. After some debate, we decided that it was likely there to prevent the purple worms (and other sundry beasties) from venturing past it. While we discussed how best to cross it, Magnus simply strode through it. This was the Seren way, evidently, direct and without discourse. We saw that while some of the tar now clinged to his boots and lower legs, he simply burned it with fire. He must surely be mad. There were ugly blisters marking his skin and he had no concern at all for it.

Aleae was carried across the tar by Clarion. The rest of us attempted to get as little tar as possible on us as we crossed. Just after the tarry area, we began to notice torchlight streaming from ahead of us. We were clearly coming to more inhabited areas of the tunnels.

As we rounded a corner, we came to fairly large chamber. In the middle was some sort of pit, the bottom of which could not be seen from our vantage point. The rest of the room was arranged in a U-shape around the pit, with a set of stairs down on one side and a set of stairs up on the opposite side. Directly across from us was an exit tunnel with a set of stairs leading up, but that wasn't the first thing that we noticed about the room.

It wasn't empty.

At the bottom of the U were a throng of skeletons and ghouls, crouched and waiting. While the skeletons stood utterly still, the gray-skinned ghouls loped like starving dogs awaiting for their masters' permission to attack. Just up from them near the stairs on the far side was a tall creature with a greenish hide and a diabolical appearance. It had a long spiked tail, horns, and innumerable spines jutting from its pebbled skin. Beyond the devil was what appeared to be a small air elemental clad in humanoid armor and wielding a spiked chain. Behind it was a man enshrouded in vesture of the finest quality. At this belt was a well-wrought dagger.

The others seemed to recognize this stranger and referred to him as the "Blue Wraith." He called out to Magnus and Magnus responded in kind. The conversation was not nuanced, he was going to bring a few of us up to "speak with" Trazzen, but the rest of us would be put to death. Magnus insisted that it was the Wraith who would not survive this encounter.

It was a tense moment. We were severely out numbered and by the looks of things, this Wraith was likely to be a wizard of some power. I would have preferred to have been fully rested, because the spells that I had prepared were more suited to battling Hothyr. At least we had Cypher and his metallic companion to guard our rear and make sure that nothing would come from behind us.

Magnus, growing tired of speaking, indicated that Simel should attack. Simel conceded and loosed an arrow at the Blue Wraith, but before it could find its target, it shattered in mid air just over the far side of the pit. An invisible barrier! Magnus tried another angle with his own bow, and Simel also tried to find the target, but all of the arrows merely burst as though they had been flung at a stone wall.

Wynn, seeing the futility of attacking the Blue Wraith directly, flung one of the two remaining beads from Hothyr's bracelet at the undead horde. The bead landed in the center of their number and burst into an enormous fireball. One of the skeletons was blasted into bone fragments, but the others all survived, although they did not look like they would do so for long.

Clarion rushed forward and prayed to his god for protection as the horde surged around him, attempting to scrape, claw, and bite his not-quite-natural body. Clarion's protection held and he was unscathed. A few of the ghouls ignored Clarion, instead homing for the appetizing look of Magnus's flesh. Apparently barbequed barbarian was on the menu, as one of their number managed to sink his teeth into Magnus's arm. The barbarian merely shook the ghoul off, dislodging one of its teeth in the process.

The Blue Wraith spoke the words of a spell and the air coagulated into plasma as lightning burst from his hands, first into one of the ghouls, instantly frying it, then forking out into Clarion and finally into Magnus. Clarion began to smoke, cooked by the spell's power, but didn't look seriously damaged. Magnus on the other hand looked to be far worse off.

Aleae recited an arcane incantation and then burst into the room. She motioned in the direction of the Blue Wraith, but nothing seemed to happen. I rushed to Magnus's aid and squeezed the remaining life (if you can call it that) out of the ghoul that had attacked him. Simel felled another ghoul and a skeleton with his bow and Wynn and Clarion took out the remaining two skeletons.

Magnus leaped across the pit diagonally, hoping to avoid hitting the invisible wall, to land at the bottom of the U, directly between the undead horde and the rest of our foes. As he landed he leveled his bow at the Blue Wraith and let loose an arrow, which did not find its target. This wizard is brave beyond all measure, but would benefit from some forethought. Magnus was immediately beset by the spiny devil-thing, which clawed him twice in quick succession and then whipped his tail about to strike Magnus once more.

The Blue Wraith summoned his lightning spell once more, this time arcing it from Magnus into Clarion, Wynn, and finally Aleae. Both Magnus and Clarion immediately fell unconscious, smoke rising frm their bodies. Arafin with her tail slapped Aleae on the back and she seemed to regain much of her vitality. Arafin then said something in the language of the dragons that I could not comprehend, but from its tongue sounded like a command. Aleae then used her magic to lift and move Magnus's body out of the midst of our foes and lay it beside Arafin.

Meanwhile a new commotion began from behind us where we had entered the chamber. As a snake, my vision is not particularly special, but my sense of smell is particularly keen, being enhanced by the sensitivity of my tongue. This new participant in our fight was a full-blooded drow, which I had not seen face to face in many years. I could tell by the smell and taste of it. Perhaps seeing the giant scorpions so recently prepared me for this second dose of nostalgia that I did not want, but this time I was able to keep my senses about me.

The drow was heavily concealed in a cloak, so much so that only a hint of red eyes and a shock of white hair were visible. Nonetheless, there was no doubt as to his heritage. Because he was so covered, I could not tell if he was Sulatar or one of the Vulkoori tribes. In one hand he held a rapier, quite nimbly. In the other he grasped a crystal like a focus for spellcasting. This one was going to be dangerous.

The drow cast a spell directly at Simel, who was pummeled with streams of dark energy that I did not recognize. They seemed to cause him considerable harm, for he was wincing mightily after being struck. I rushed to aid Simel and attempted to coil my body around the drow, but he was quite spry and easily dodged my coils. The armored air elemental joined the fray, attacking Simel from the other side and the drow brought forth the same magic that Hothyr had used, conjuring several identical copies of himself. Such illusions do not fool my snake senses, so I knew precisely where the real drow he was at all times. After Simel managed to puncture his leg, the drow disappeared with another quick spell, making a short hop to the edge of the pit. He once again leveled his dark energies towards Simel after speaking to the changeling. "Please understand, this is not personal," he spoke in the Common tongue. Simel absorbed the energies and collapsed in a heap on the ground.

Memories of Xen'drik

My huge size allowed me to be positioned perfectly to ensnare the drow as he materialized and I was able to completely entwine his body with my own. Then I began to crush him, squeezing the breath from his thin frame. If I can rid Eberron of this one drow, it will have been but a drop in the bucket, but a start nevertheless!

While I was busying myself with this foe from my homeland, Aleae had been busy tossing our enemies into the pit. The devil she flung down with the power of her magic, and I can only assume that she dispatched the final ghoul, since it never climbed back out. While I was busy with the drow, Arafin had revived Magnus—who looked no better, his skin cracked and burned by lightning, but his enthusiasm for the battle had, creepily, not been disturbed by his brush with death. As he advanced to get to the wizard, the spiny devil climbed out from the pit and got in his way.

Once again, I have a bad feeling about this fight. Two of our number are unconscious on the ground and a third is mere moments away from joining them. Our enemies still seem quite fresh, as our efforts have barely scratched them. With a little luck, my companions will make short work of this drow while I have him entangled within my clutches, then we will be able to turn towards the elemental and the wizard known as the Blue Wraith.

We will survive, because we must. The rest of my order must be told about the aberrations here in Glyphstone.