#117 - Bones of Contention and Chaos

As told by Magnus of the Island of Seren.

My head is spinning.

Simel is dead, I said a few words over his body and then took his items and then we mangled his corpse, hoping to keep him from being taken by Trazzen and turned into something awful. Death underground is the worst. I hope to die where I can be burned and my ashes will rise to the sky. Left in a pile in a dungeon is no way to end. I am sorry, Simel, we did our best by you and we are still running.

We find ourselves led by Bale the Dark Elf. He reminds me of Xoma, but somehow less cheerful. We haven’t had time to sort him out, but he knows the lower halls of Glyphstone better than we do and he insists we have only hours to save Breland from “the Cauldron.”  I don’t understand why we trust him, but he has slain some of our enemies and helped us hide. We are so depleted and tired, any help is welcome.

Bale covered us in an illusion, one that could affect our entire party. He now looks like the Blue Wraith, and seems to be able to speak like him. The rest of us appear as the silent suits of animated armor that we have seen a few times in the company of that now-dead wizard. We can’t tell who is who, but hopefully the illusion works on the locals as well as it does on us.

After killing the undead escort sent by Trazzen to gather the Blue Wraith, we turned and headed for where Bale says the Cauldron should be, guarded by Trazzen and many Gnolls—and Khyber knows what else. We have no real hope of surviving any real fight. Weak and depleted of all spells and abilities, we are like villagers hiding under a sheet during a raid. Our best plan is to use our illusion to see what is going on and maybe then develop a plan.

We needed rest most of all.  Bale is pushing us and I’m not sure we can live up to his expectations.
Then, in our midst, Aleae returns from her wand, summoned out of the air by her fey magic. It takes some whispered words from Clarion to let her know we are all with her under our disguises. She hears our familiar voices to convince her that we are as Clarion has described. She is not disguised and so she walks in our midst or behind us with Arafin and Rungo.

Just after that, a familiar voice from the darkness mocks our newfound stealth. It was Sarrel, the oni we met in the upper levels. He said that he has been among the enemy and all is much as Bale has described: Cauldron, gnolls, Trazzen, and dire times for Breland. He recounted that our work underground was making Trazzen nervous, for we disappeared for some time as we consorted with powerful wizards, an angel, an nagas. And slew his spawn, Halbazar, our old friend. Our moving about has created mystery, and I hope trouble, for the vampire's work.

Sarrel said that we must act quickly and that he can help us. I confirmed for him that we indeed now possessed the Scepter of Glyphstone and are ready to give it to Irakis in the throne room above. He said she still lived, but that she had been discovered and even besieged. Sarrel advises us that we should get to her and give her the Scepter, for with it she may be able to get "Glyphstone itself" to help us deal with Trazzen.

We need that help.

Perhaps she can send the giant golem she commands from the throne room to help. Perhaps there are more powers with the scepter. She might even be able to send some of the goblin horde from the plains above to help re-take the keep. That was my hope, anyway..

We need help.

So this was Sarrel's counsel, and the whole group agreed that this was best. But we needed to get past the levels between us and Irakas. A large encampment of gnolls was the primary danger, but Bale and the oni have both mentioned other foes—the cohorts Trazzen brought to help him with the Cauldron. Above the gnoll army is a level that has been mostly collapsed, but above that is the level with the throne room and Irakas. We just needed to get there.

Aleae says she has one spell of invisibility left. She could also see well in the dark. She was swift and silent. I give her the Scepter. We all agree that whatever happened, she was to sneak away however she can and deliver it to Irakas. She was entrusted. The oni also offered to grant her a spell of movement so that nothing could slow or hinder her. He also cast a spell of healing for most of us, asking us if we would accept a "benediction from the Shadow." I am already marked by that dark god—what did it matter?

We could not fight our way to Irakas, so we accepted this help. Sarrel also agreed to move among the gnoll army, sowing seeds of confusion, if we can develop a plan. Cypher had an idea. He had acquired a bag of enchanted bones that, if they were planted in earth or sand, could sprout forth some unpredictable magical effect—perhaps not unlike the powers of Aleae's wand. It was a gamble. He did not know what effects would come forth, whether good or bad, but we believed that if we can get them buried in a few locations around the gnolls' camp, perhaps whatever happened would distract them and let us move past. Sarrel would do the planting. It was our best plan.

Bale used some magic to create dirt from the stone around us. I give my shirt as a bag for him to carry some dirt in, while cloaks and blankets were offered by the others. Sarrel took his packages and headed up, among the gnolls, instructing us to wait and listen and be ready to move. We did. heard nothing.

Cypher and Clarion start urging us up the stairs silently.  Soon, gnoll barks, grunts, and shouts indicated that something was happening. It was time.

Still covered by Bale's illusion—that he was the Blue Wraith and we his armored guards—we left the stairwell and emerged in an enormous cavern filled with gnolls of every size and description. Tents, fire pits, bone spits...even hyenas gathered like hunting dogs. But they were distracted by something to one side of the cavern, then another. Then another. Harpies flew past, calling out that there was a "walking tree" somewhere. The work of Cypher's bones?

With Bale-as-the-Blue-Wraith in the lead we hurried through one side of the great encampment, weaving past hurrying gnolls and tents. Most most of them ignored us, some gnolls did challenge us—we talked our way past the first ones, then Bale actually attacked the next pair. We slew them quickly without raising any great alarm.

When we drew close to the stairwell up—our destination—and we are stopped by a ranking, scimitar-wielding harpy and two more gnolls. Pointing at Bale, but seeing the Blue Wraith, she exclaimed, "You live?! Explain!"

By way of explanation, Bale attacked, so we all did. Izzeth held one of the gnolls with a spell, and we all tore into the harpy, hoping to keep her from flying off or singing. Cypher launched his crossbow bolts, while Wynn lashed out with her polearm. Somehow in the confusion, a tiny winged and draconic form appeared next to Aleae. A faerie dragon! They are a source of mystery and folklore even among the Seren tribes—like the little cousins of gods. I had never seen one, and this was a very strange and inconvenient time to do so. Questions for later!

The little dragon spoke in a flowery language with Aleae, then with expected courage darted forward expelled a cloud of colored dust upon the harpy. Soon the she-monster went crashing down, unable to raise any alarm. The second gnoll, however, ran away and started to howl. We were exposed. As a group we ran for the stair.

I am exhausted and bleeding, the rest of us are barely held together and staggering as we run.

My head is spinning.