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November 17, 2004

Fungal Bandits

Searching the captured humans, they found four potions on the snake warrior as well as his finely made snakeskin armour, which Ke-Herram liberated. The darts and the gold coins that they found were distributed. The human that they had found on the floor, also seemed to be infected with the fungal growths that had affected the goblins nearby. The papers on the desk proved to be maps and shipping schedules of local trading groups. One map, however, stood out. It contained no details of any shipping routes as all of the others had done, and its only reference was to a “Lake of Lost Voices”. The only other marking was a symbol of a white circle in a black square, which stood at the western edge of this lake. Voern cured the wounds of the snake warrior sufficiently for interrogation. Migar led this effort and determined that the two were indeed the bandits that they had come looking for. Merril the snake warrior also revealed the powers of the potions that he had carried. Voern searched the chamber and found a chest under Den Rudiger’s bed. After the dart which trapped the chest had buried itself in Ke-Herram’s arm, they could examine its contents, the most revealing of which was some correspondence that showed a tally chart, which seemed to show the disposition of the spoils. The three columns were labelled “N”; “Rudiger & Yannis” and “Back to Lair”. This last had an entry mentioning an old tome from Xavel. Salesat was not responding well to the poison that the snake had injected into him. Voern had to treat him with a tourniquet, as he made the litorian lie on the ground with his leg propped up against the wall. Examining the birds that they had found further, they saw that they each had rings around their legs with the same symbol – that of the circle in the square. Voern left water and grain out for them before they headed off with their prizes to Gahanis.

Once they reached the town they handed over the two to Mynorath and obtained their reward. He offered them free accommodation for the rest of the festival as a further token of appreciation. Voern determined that Salesat required four more days of treatment to be rid of the venom, so Ke-Herram took the opportunity to order some climbing materials from a local merchant. When they were all prepared, Ke-Herram, Voern and Salesat performed rituals of thanksgiving for trials endured. Ke-Herram and Voern opted to improve their understanding of their own racial nature, while Voern continued in his devotion to the Green. That night while they rested from their endeavours, they were each visited in a dream by a Guildmaster of the Jaren who had spoken to them while wearing some elaborate costume, including a mask, asking them to come to the guild hall the following night, one hour after dusk to assist them in tracking down some property of theirs which had been taken in the caravan raids. Passing the day quietly, the group visited the Jaren and accepted their commission. They said that they would return to the Battlehome and look for clues as to where the item, which the Jaren said was a book, might have gone.

Three days later, after Ke-Herram had collected his kit, they all returned to the fortress. Here they methodically went through the areas that they had not reached, but only after determining that the pigeons had been taken, released or worse. Several natural twisting passages interconnected and seemed to run off into the bowels of the earth without limit. Of the more orderly passages, they eventually came upon a wide processional way, which was illuminated when they had reached the end and touched the huge giant mask, which hung at its end. Just off this lay a chamber with a fountain behind two doors that had faces, mirroring the huge one, carved in them. Here they found some rest and relaxation, for the waters of the fountain seemed to have some beneficial effect on them that they could not exactly determine.

November 30, 2004

Those That Have Gone Before

After searching the fountain chamber for secret openings with no success, Salesat had a strong urge to return to Gahanis to rid himself of his long shield and studded leather jack. With the indifference of the others to this suggestion, he managed to contain himself and remain. They left the healthy air for the fetid corridors of the rest of the Battlehome, passing through a once locked door, north of where they were which led to the east. At the first crossroads they went south, opening a door with a large rune embossed on the surface, even though they could not decipher its meaning. The room beyond was plain, large and rectangular. On the eastern wall a set of double doors sat closed. A smaller door rested in the southern wall to the western edge. A large stone slab, that was perhaps used as a table, dominated the chamber, though nothing rested on it now. The wall opposite the double doors, was covered in a carving that represented battling giants overcoming dramojh opponents. It had been defaced by some scarring, but was otherwise clear.

Moving on, the group opened the southerly door, finding a smaller room, which also had an exit to the east, this one a single door. Of more interest was the large mask attached high up on the westerly wall and the large stone pedestal in the centre of the room. Below the mask was a stone bench sized for seated giants. The party tried several things when examining these items but came to no firm conclusion as to their purpose. Migar cast a spell and saw that both the pedestal and the mask radiated a magical aura of divination. Salesat meanwhile had tried to move the pedestal and failed. He then turned to look at the mask, but once he saw it, stood transfixed. Ke-Herram tried poking the litorian in an effort to gain his attention, but to no avail. Eventually, the other three had to physically turn him away for him to regain his senses. He could not remember his time spent gazing at the mask. This prompted further investigation, which also revealed nothing until Salesat found himself standing atop the pedestal, again transfixed by his view of the mask. Unable to discover the purpose of this effect the others again, moved Salesat and they all decided to tackle the eastern door.

Ke-Herram pulled it open and a cloud of greenish smoke billowed out to cover each of the four adventurers. Voern coughed and gagged while the others stepped forward to battle a goblin so deformed it looked like a moving fungus. Ke-Herram struck first and sorely injured the creature; Salesat finished it with a blow from his war hammer. Pressing their advantage they moved into the room beyond to engage another of these transformed goblins. This one they also finished off quickly. In the room, they found nothing but a bucket full of pieces of the fungal growth that they had seen before, being eaten by the bandits and the other goblins in the caverns below. There were no other exits from this chamber.

Once they had returned to the large chamber with the central stone block, Salesat opened the double doors to the east. These led to a corridor running to the north and south, which turned back to the west at both ends that they could see. On the opposite wall stood a single door, which had had its latches removed at some point. They opened this door and proceeded down the easterly passage beyond. Not far along on the northern wall, the entrance to a rough tunnel leading northwards, was blocked by an invisible barrier that they could not damage, even with Salesat’s war hammer. Moving along the original passage they continued into darkness, the only light being shed by Migar’s lantern. After some time they made out some writing clearly carved into the northern wall. This warned travellers not to pass any further in this direction lest they fall between “midnight and death”. Salesat was not happy to leave their exploration simply due to the words on a wall, so he determined to go on, the others agreed to this, but tied three lengths of rope to him, so that they could haul him back if required. At the very end of the ropes’ span the passage had not deviated in its course, nor shown the litorian anything else of interest, so he returned to the others and they all went back through to stand before the double doors again. The southerly passageway proved uninteresting, though it turned to the west, as there were no side doors or openings. It ended in a blank wall. The group sought and found a concealed portal here, which led back to the main area. Then they circled back around to the door with the embossed rune. They tried the door to the north. Beyond lay a short corridor running east to west. Three doors led off from this corridor, but of more immediate interest were the four bodies lying dead in the western portion before the largest door. Two verrik, a human and a quickling faen sprawled, decaying on the stone. Each had suffered burns and showed the signs of having been gnawed at. Their equipment seemed to have been removed.

Turning to the doors, the group examined the westerly one first, determining that the runes engraved on it were ancient ones of containment. Leaving this for the moment the group searched behind the other two, more non-descript doors while Ke-Herram held them open. One was completely empty, while the other contained a skeleton, still propped in a sitting position at the end of the cell, wearing rusted armour. Ke-Herram decided to try the other door. As soon as he opened it, the party beheld two of the most loathsome creatures that they had yet seen, lurking at the back of the cell over what seemed to be backpacks and other equipment. Humanoid shaped, the creatures stood about five feet tall with their flesh hanging in folds off their bodies. Piercing black eyes stared balefully out from beneath their deformed brows. Steam or gas swirled about their gangling limbs and drops of some liquid fell intermittently from their elbows and chins. They were not slow to react. One raced up past Ke-Herram to attack Salesat. The giant managed to connect with the creature as it went by. Salesat discovered that the liquid dripping from the creatures was acidic when he was slammed by a fist and then felt the agonising bite of the fluid as it ate into his flesh, though he felt better when his war hammer connected squarely with the body of the creature. Meanwhile, Ke-Herram was also attacked in the doorway, but he was missed in the creature’s first rush. Voern cast a spell to animate his weapon so that he would not have to stand in range of the creatures while Migar contemplated immolating the creatures and possibly himself and his companions before settling on successfully slashing the same creature that had engaged Salesat with his athame. Ke-Herram turned and landed another blow on this creature as well but it still stood. It concentrated its efforts on Salesat, but missed this time, allowing the litorian, the giant and the human all to land blows on the creature. While distracted with this effort, Ke-Herram was hit by both of the other humanoid’s fists. Voern’s flying weapon also seemly managed to damage the chlorthek in the passage as it fell under this flurry of attacks. Ke-Herram stepped back into the space where the creature had fallen, forcing the other one to follow him into the passage to continue its attack. Here they managed to batter the remaining chlorthek until it too fell.

Ke-Herram then held the door open for Salesat as he went into the room to retrieve the items within. The giant noticed that the fallen forms were beginning to rise again from the floor – they had not been killed! Salesat was recalled from the cell, and he set about lighting some oil on the creatures to see if it would damage them. It seemed that it did, so a full-scale conflagration was called for, with each member contributing oil flasks and Salesat carefully feeding the blaze as the oil was used up. Migar and Ke-Herram kept beating down the slowly rising forms if they showed signs of movement. When we was ready, Migar called for everyone to step back and then summon a create burst of flame over the bodies, but even this was not enough to finish them. Despairing of ever killing these abominations, Salesat set off to retrieve the long iron strut that had been used to bar the lower doors of the cavern tower. Meanwhile, Voern was ferrying all of the items from the cell back out into the main corridor as the human and the giant kept beating the un-dying forms. When he returned Salesat handed the strut over to Ke-Herram, who pushed the writhing bodies into the cell and shut the door on them. Moving out into the main corridor the party breathed a sigh of relief as the giant wedged the prison door shut with the iron bar.

Voern started going through all of the equipment that had been in the cell. He cast a detect magic on all of it, revealing the magical aura from a scimitar which Salesat offered around to the others before availing of it himself. He also took a chain shirt and abandoned his armour and shield. Some other sundry items of equipment were replaced or replenished and a small amount of gold was distributed among the adventurers. Voern kept a tally of all of the items.

The corridor that was blocked to them still troubled the group, so they went back into the front cavern of the Battlehome hoping that the room they had discovered there would teleport them to this interesting location. When they stepped in, though, they were transported to a spot about six hundred feet to the north of the Battlehome’s front gate. They took this as a sign and headed back to Gahanis, satisfied that their next goal should be the Lake of Lost Voices.

The next day they headed off, new mules in tow, rested and healed after their endeavours in the Battlehome. When it was nearly dusk, on the first day out, they heard what could only be a bear further up the trail from their position. When they got close enough for a better view after tethering their mules, they could see a black bear leaning over a humanoid creature on the ground. Voern immediately responded by firing a bolt from his crossbow at the animal, which managed to hit. The bear turned to attack and Ke-Herram rushed up to engage it, scoring a hit with his first attack. Migar and Salesat also landed blows on the beast felling it. Salesat’s face paled when he saw that the creature on the ground was a rhodin, the racial enemies of the litorians, whose savage attacks on his people, had continued for generations. The rhodin was dying, though it coughed and beckoned its saviours closer. Voern was able to make out its last whispered words, which concerned an orb and not allowing a woman to have it. The loresong could not make much sense of this. Salesat searched the rhodin and found a bejewelled dagger buried in its back. It was then that Voern realised that the bear had not killed the creature, rather that a barbed weapon had done all the damage that they could see. Perhaps the bear had just wandered by. Wanting to leave this place behind them the group camped a couple of hours later along the trail. Their watches through the night were uneventful.

About midday on their second day out from Gahanis, Migar spotted a mound rising above the small streambed that they were following. Before he could mention this to any of the others a human female appeared from behind the construction and launched a bolt of green force at him. This stunned Migar, but Ke-Herram acted quickly and charged the woman. When he reached her, his first blow went wide. The others closed in; firing missile weapons and wounding her, but the woman stepped back and loosed another bolt of her strange energy at the giant in front of her. Ke-Herram was injured by this energy but managed to connect with his next blow, killing the woman. A quick search revealed that the woman was probably a witch, due to the pouch of strange items at her waist. Her padded armour and club did not seem to be of interest. Searching the general area of the mound they came upon a clay tablet that was carved with some text that none of the travellers could decipher. Voern put some parchment over it and took a rubbing of it so that he could find someone who might be able to read it for them. Salesat found a suitable campsite that evening and they settled in for their routine watches.

Their third day started much like the others, trudging along the rough winding defile that contained the low stream, pushing and heaving the mules at regular intervals. After only a couple of hours on the trail, Migar spotted a figure approaching from the south along the stream bank. He was a verrik and he was dressed for travel, with his pack sitting comfortably on his shoulders. He greeted the party when he came close enough and explained that he was an artist from the nearby town of Gahanis who had come into the hills to capture the true nature of the hills and rocky bluffs for a piece of work that he was planning. He said that he had not been as far south as the lake, saying that he had avoided it due to local rumours of its fell nature. Migar seemed to have heard of a verrik artist in Gahanis and asked the verrik if he was famous. A smile passed his lips momentarily as he replied that he hoped that some people had come to know of his work. Voern sensed that this verrik might be able to help decipher the writing from the mound, but after looking at it briefly he said that he could not understand it at all, nor could he find any stored experiences in the akashic gem that the group had discovered, though he charged them for the attempt anyway.

A few hours later the group came to the shores of the lake. They looked around to see if they could identify any building on the far shore to the west, but it was too difficult to make out from this distance, so they started west along the shoreline over the rough rocky terrain. When Migar came close to the water, he began hearing voices in his head urging him to dive under the lake to join with these poor lost souls in death. He managed to resist their persuasive inducements, but the voices did not stop trying.

About November 2004

This page contains all entries posted to Aspirants of the Diamond Throne in November 2004. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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