Chronicle - Nega and Ochi
Nega and Ochi
Nega
We arrived in Nega to somewhat of a hero's reception (once our identity had been established), and it seemed that they had learnt quickly of the demise of Calios. Dracor Augusta, however, had not returned from the rescue attempt and was trying to restore the balance of the elements in the Iron Mountains following our passage there. Si Lung, the water serpent, had also not been seen for some time and was feared captured or killed. The situation in Nega was desperate, and without resupply the city would likely fall within 6 months. No supplies were reaching the city on the river, and it was confirmed that Ochi had fallen - during the battle a relative of Lanzi's (Lei Ku) had been killed, and it was clear that he would relish the opportunity to avenge his death.
I stayed in the Temple while we recuperated, and the High Priest ran a tight ship. There were too many privations amongst the people and the threat too great for any relaxation. The High Priest was close to death from old age, although his mind was sharp, and the next senior priest was only a Canon. In better times I might have offered to stay and take his place, and perhaps if we return I might yet have something to offer this once great temple. By studying and meditating, and researching a book that I recovered from our looting of Calios' hoard, I brought myself closer to Odin than I had ever been before. This in turn granted me visions, and indeed others in the party also were enlighted by visions; I have recorded them here:
Hintzu had advanced his skills to the point where he needed to test himself once more in the monastery. He fought two opponents, both of whom were equally skilled and had probably been tested in battle during the siege. I am pleased to say that he emerged victorious, although the matches were hard fought, and was recognised as having advanced within the order.
We spent some time sharing some of our knowledge with the leaders of Nega, including Yishmay, and bringing ourselves up to date on events so far. We also spent time discussing the lore that we had found in order to plan our next moves. It was clear that the Sarnim Stone had caused great upset in the Planes - such a powerful artifact threatens all the creatures not of this world, causing them to strike into the Prime to defend themselves. The Drow were spawned from Sylvan Elves, long since turned away from their kin under the leadership of Inwe, who rules in Nagrad (the Ice Kingdom). The Drow were often associated with smoke and fire in the visions that we had seen. They did not seem to be aware of the traitor Morgainus, who was working for Marilliath, so we might be able to use that to our advantage. Eolier is a second-born Drow prince of high born heritage, and had tried to unite the Drow with the people of Numenorea, thankfully without success.
We enquired after possible secret entrances to Ochi, and also the likely position of a throne room. There were many refugees from Ochi that were able to provide us with information, and we began planning a possible route to Ochi, although we were not yet sure of our objective. Morgainus was to be our target, and before we spent too much time planning we decided to scry his location. I set about making the necessary preparations in the temple, which took some time. As I was so engaged, Merc sought out a worthy Captain amongst the Sea Elves that had survived the last battles on the river; finding a female who rose to the challenge, he appointed her the leader of their remaining forces to act in his stead. Lanzi also kept himself busy, proposing to Yishmay and promising to return to her as soon as our quest allowed it.
The party members arrived at the temple as I was knelt before the font beseeching Odin for aid in the final stage of the ceremony. As my friends looked on, a huge red-bearded giant appeared before me, with a spear in one hand and a shield bearing the symbol of Thor's hammer on his arm. He towered above us, but was equally broad and muscle bound and was highlighted by a blue glow from the font below him. We were blessed with a visit by an Avatar of Thor himself!
I was already on my knees, and was soon joined by Merc and Hintzu. Lanzi and Morwath simply stood still, agog. The blue glow faded and the figure became corporeal, flexing his considerable muscles as if stretching after having awoken. He looked down at us with some disdain and barked "Get up, get up!" I rose unsteadily to my feet and beckoned to the others to come closer, not wanting to keep the Avatar waiting. He sat down before us, although he still looked down at us, and set down his spear and shield. He told us that he had been tasked to offer us his aid by Odin himself, and we in turn explained that we sought direction on what we should do next to best serve Odin's will.
It became clear, however, that once we came to terms with the fact that a God's Avatar stood before us, the advice he had to offer was a little simplistic. He urged us to kill all evil on the Prime - just all of it; if we killed it all then it didn't matter in what order we did it! We explained patiently that our own lifespans were limited and that we might be better focusing our efforts on particular priority targets.
The image of Thor is too perfect for mortal hands to recreate, so this sketch will have to suffice.
To summarise the information we gleaned from the Avatar: the effriti hearth was at Ishtur; there was a dragon at Nagrad, which was not all on the Prime; Morgainus was aboard a boat at Celinas, although we did not know when he might move again; Marrilliath was in Ochi (and needed to die soon); and Milai was in Nagrad. Ochi was, therefore, our next target. We discussed ways that we could reach Ochi, and after much (heated) debate settled on using the edge of the Demi-Plane of Shadows (or Demi Shade of Pladows, as Morwath put it - probably still a little awed by the Avatar).
The Avatar's final act was to create a divining pool using the font in the temple, and I was told to look into it. I saw an eight-legged horse riding across a crimson sky and then landing on a huge summit that rose out of the sea. The horse turned and I found myself looking out of its eyes, seeing a dozen vessels in calm water before me. My vision swept down towards one of the ships, and pierced the side; I saw 2 drow elves, dressed in purple and black, speaking to each other...
"So how do we go beneath the sea?"
"Morgainus will know the way; he is with us soon."
"What message shall we bear?"
"Morgainus will bear fruit - he has not failed us in the past."
"He has spoken to the Tanarii, has he not?"
The drow seemed to be getting confrontational.
The vision shifted and I found myself looking at a dungeon and at Marilliath. She was speaking with a good looking female - willowy with ample breasts and dark hair. She looked familiar, and I realised that it was the same woman that had aided the Gith Prince in Aarda, before disappearing. She spoke, seemingly as an equal, to Marilliath:
"I must go, Marilliath. This is what Morgainus says he needs to complete the spell."
She passed a small pouch over.
"This will get him into the lair; without it he'll drown. You send him ahead as a messenger; he needs this before he can speak to the serpent."
The vision faded and my awareness returned once more to the temple. It was even more clear now that our objective should be Ochi; Marilliath appeared to have some way of accessing Nagrad with her and was planning to give it to Morgainus. If we could retrieve that pouch we might at least interfere with her plans, and at best we might gain access to Nagrad ourselves.
The avatar left us, seemingly content that we were going to battle evil and happy that Marilliath would be a target. With the party in agreement about our next objective, and reluctantly in agreement on our means of travel, Lanzi made the preparations to move us into the Demi-Plane of Shadows (or 'just at the edge of the Prime', as Lanzi insisted on refering to it as). As he completed his dweomer, the colour drained from the world around us, shrouding everything in grey. A peculiar feeling ran through my stomach as we began to move through this unnatural immitation of our world.
Despite my unease, I could not argue with the results - we covered the distance incredibly quickly, much faster than a horse could have. We followed the route of the river towards Ochi, seeing its course clearly although the detached feeling of not really being there remained. Silver flashes of light could occasionally be seen around us, but nothing emerged or seemed to threaten us as a result. What did seem threatening, a little later, was a collection of lizard things sat on the bank of the river to our left.
The lizards charged towards us as we approached, and it was clear that they were very much a part of the plane we travelled through. There were four of them and they must have been a good 20 foot long. They spat an acrid mucus at us as they neared which burned wherever it landed. Not that we had much time to reflect on this as we were soon ducking bites and deflecting claws.
Lanzi tried to use his dweomer, but they were upon him before he could finish his chants and the attempt was wasted. Morwath defended himself, slashing with lightning speed with his scimitar and avoiding harm. Merc also slashed at the foe, but his sword seemed not to connect as it should in this strange shadow of our world. I called on Odin's grace, but it did not seem to affect these creatures. They were affected by Hintzu's attacks, though, and he struck at one with blow upon blow until it fell in a bloody heap. Morwath, unable to take the offensive physically, used his mental powers to stun the creature opposing him, giving him some breathing space. Merc by this time had got into his stride and had killed another of the things. This left just one, although that was fearsome enough. Morwath and Lanzi were desperately defending themselves and Lanzi was just able to raise his mirror images before two solid blows landed where he would have been. Hintzu again landed blow upon blow and felled the creature in short order - it seemed that his training had paid off!
Not wanting to linger in this land, we continued as soon as we were able and soon the creatures were out of sight behind us. After another half an hour or so we saw some figures in the distance, rapidly closing with us. They were human figures, but twice our size and blue-skinned with oddly jointed fingers. Dressed in robes, they did not appear immediately threatening. In what appeared to be a face off, we stood for a few moments; however, Lanzi and Morwath had been conversing with these creatures using only their minds. Thankfully they soon changed to normal conversation and Lanzi explained that these 'Arcane' were traders in items of dweomer. Some trinkets were exchanged, with the party trading those items that were felt to be less useful for those that might be more so. Once this was done, it was suggested that the Arcane might know some information that would be valuable to us. In exchange for more dweomer, they told us that they believed Inwe to hold the neutral shard of the Sarnim Stone. Thanking them for their fair trade, we excused ourselves and continued our journey.
We saw more of the flashes that we had seen before, but this time they appeared closer to us. One in particular was so close as to be the size of a small house. To our surprise, we saw Tanar'ri passing from light to dark within the flash, and undead humanoids passing the opposite way before they all disappeared completely. We would have to be wary in future of being seen.
Once our eyes had adjusted to the grey landscape again, we saw that there were half a dozen flying lion creatures approaching, although they did not appear to have noticed us. As they came closer we could see that they were metallic in nature, glinting dully like brass. All of their body and their wings were the same, and if we were to fight them our weapons would struggle to penetrate their hide. I called down Odin's favour, just in case we had to defend ourselves, but we made no aggressive moves in the hope that they would not be hostile. The creatures split into two wings, passing around us, and then thankfully continued into the distance. I let out a breath that I had been holding unconsciously - it was not often theses days that we encountered creatures that did not attack us, and here we had had two such encounters!
We continued our journey and saw more of the flashes around us and ahead of us, but were so far lucky in not being too close to them. There were now signs of destruction in the Prime around us, and the river had widened to the extent that regular boat traffic could be seen through the grey veil around us. We came across a large galleon being turned in the river, protected by 3 war vessels. Drow elves were manning a dock on the bank, and it seemed that they had established a forward supply base here. From the look of some of the worked wood, they were looking to construct siege engines to turn against the walls of Nega. Drow worked the docks of the supply base.
As we passed the base, we saw a boat approaching from down river. It seemed more real than the vessels we had seen so far and, what is more, it was moving against the wind but with full sails. Fortunately for us it was a small war vessel, only 50' long, but it was nevertheless armed heavily; eight ballistae and four small mangonelles stood upon the decks and a score of marines stood ready for combat - they were Gith pirates, or so we thought at the sight of them. The ballistae opened fire, making it clear that they shared our plane and had seen us! Morwath attempted to part the water before it, but it did not have the effect that he was hoping on this plane, and only seemed to disturb the Gith that could see us. I prayed to Odin in anticipation of the unavoidable combat that faced us.
Morwath conjured a wall of fire across the river, but the boat stopped dead in the water - it was unnatural in every way. Its ballistae kept firing, so it was still a threat to us, and Lanzi returned fire literally with a fireball into its bow. The party ran forward, although I could not keep pace with them; it seemed that the difference in our speeds was exacerbated in this realm. Hintzu used his ring to throw his own fireball at the foe, and it exploded in the centre of the ship, doing some damage to the Gith. The boat started to move forward again, and Morwath struck at them again with the forces of nature, causing thorns to cover the deck. The boat stopped again, and began to back away from the dweomer being thrown at it. They could not avoid a second fireball from Lanzi, though, which caused the thorns to burst into flames to great effect. We watched as the crew burnt to death, unable to free themselves from the thorny blaze; Merc chuckled to himself, seeming to enjoy the horrific sight, but I did not have the stomach for it.
We continued to follow the river, leaving the grisly spectacle behind us. There were a lot of Tanar'ri movements through the flashes, all around us now. They appeared to be heading towards a Gith boat that was sat in the open, not on the river, and clearly not on the Prime. We also saw fortifications being erected (on the Prime) around the outer walls of a settlement - we had reached Ochi at last! However, our elation was short lived as the nearest set of Tanar'ri troops had noticed us and shouts were directed towards us.
Lanzi quickly used his dweomer to disguise our outward appearance, making us look like Gith (much to Merc's disgust). Our only option was to carry on with the bluff in an attempt to pass unmolested, so we adopted the arrogant swagger and snarl that we likened to the creatures we now resembled, Morwath urging us to keep walking. Five of the creatures broke off from their formation and approached us, blocking our path. We had no way of communicating with them, and they soon became hostile and struck at us with lightning speed, landing some blows. The stink of their breath made us gag, but we fought back in desperation. Suddenly, a hypnotic, weaving pattern of coloured lights appeared around them, drifting away from us; two of the creatures stopped attacking and stared at the lights and Merc and Hintzu killed two others during the distraction. I landed a good blow on the last of them, but its retaliation caught me off guard and to my horror I felt a paralysing poison spread through my body causing me to fall helpless to the ground. Merc killed the thing with disdain, and with Hintzu they dispatched the two dazed creatures so that we were out of immediate danger.
Thankfully Merc was able to free me from my paralysis, and even more importantly the other Tanar'ri had ignored the combat - it seems that evil creatures are always fighting amongst themselves. We crossed the river quickly and approached the outer fortifications. There were three walls between us and the keep that was our aim, and the city was beyond that, sloping up to the horizon. The walls had been repaired since the siege that led to Ochi's fall. Gith manned the walls and the interior, whilst the Drow were confined to the docks and outer defences; they were in the process of unloading a boat at the river gate, bringing more stone for the defences. To our anger, we could see the temples and monasteries being dismantled and their stone added to the new fortifications. Weapons were being forged and given to lesser creatures, such as orcs, that were being commanded by those higher up in the army's ranks.
Some of the Gith working on the boat shouted at us, and a vulture-like creature that appeared to be leading them turned to look over at us. From a nearby tower, a goat-horned dog creature with pincers instead of hands shouted at the Gith to "send something to get the slackers", at which the vulture thing took flight straight towards us. Morwath called on his affinity with nature to converse with the creature, trying to convince it that we were messengers sent to speak with Marilliath. The creature, shrewdly, said that he and he alone could pass; the rest of us would have to wait here. Merc, seizing the initiative, attacked the thing without warning. It fought back, but the surprise rendered its attacks ineffective. Hintzu joined Merc and they finished it off quickly.
Unsurprisingly, our actions caused uproar on the boat. We, however, continued as if we had every right to do so, hoping that our disguises would continue to confuse those around us. Goat-face was not to be put off, though, and was suddenly upon us. Lights appeared all around us and my mind wandered, unaware of the danger I was in. Fortunately, he focussed his attacks on Merc initially; he and Hintzu fought back, but the creature seemed to shift around their blows and only a few landed. Lanzi attempted to direct his dweomer at it, but was equally unable to hit. Morwath, meanwhile, was shouting at the Gith to return to their boat - trying to prevent the combat from running away from us. I was still not myself, and suddenly became afeared of Lanzi, swinging at him with my mace. Fortunately he had his usual defence of mirror image about him, and I did not do any damage. The creature head-butted Merc, which really annoyed him, and in retaliation he landed a solid blow. Lanzi directed magic missiles at it, but to no effect. Both Merc and Hintzu were landing more of their blows now, and eventually the creature fell under the onslaught.
Mindful of the approaching danger, Hintzu called a ring of fire into being around the main body of Gith, and then used his new ring to fill the area with a noxious gas - many of the trapped Gith reeled in nausea, forgetting their advance. I was still afflicted with an unnatural fear of Lanzi, and chased after him, attacking his many images. Some of the Gith leapt through the fire to engage Morwath, Merc and Hintzu; this was foolish as they were cut down without mercy. The remainder of the Gith began to back away, realising that they could not win this fight.
Lanzi was desperate to escape my attacks without causing me harm, and used his dweomer to move instantly away from me. However, after looking around in confusion, I saw him and ran towards him, still intent on pressing home my attacks. Merc took the risky step of trying to dispel the dweomer affecting me - he succeeded in destroying my best potions, but failed to release me from my madness. Morwath tried to tackle me, but just bounced off my armoured frame. Lanzi tried to control my mind, hoping to overpower the curse I was suffering under, but again the attempt failed to release me. Merc then took a more practical approach, beating me into submission without using his blades, to minimise the damage he was doing.
Ever the practical one, Hintzu slung me over his shoulder and the party continued unperturbed. The Gith all around the area were by now making their way towards our position and Merc led us straight through the first wall towards the keep (such was the advantage of approaching through the demi-plane of shadows that we could walk through solid walls). We were immediately seen by the Tanar'ri on the second wall, who challenged us. Morwath again attempted to convince them that we were entitled to pass, but his attempt did not appear to be going well. Merc grew impatient again and charged to combat, landing solid hits. Hintzu dropped me and ran to join the combat. Lanzi once again cast an impressive display of dweomer that did nothing whilst Merc and Hintzu killed the Tanar'ri that opposed them.
Lanzi and Merc carried on, with another two Tanar'ri moving to oppose them, whilst Hintzu and Morwath made their way back to my prone form. Lanzi killed one of the creatures with a thought, leaving Merc to engage the other. Morwath used his considerable healing powers to bring me back to consciousness and, more importantly, in my own mind! I got to my feet, considerably disorientated, and realised what had happened. Morwath and Hintzu ran to assist Merc, leaving me to sheepishly bring up the rear. Between them they killed the foe, but there was no time to dally; we ran towards the final wall.
Our goal was the keep at the centre of the fortifications.
We were able to run through and towards the keep without being intercepted, although we had caused quite a ruckus in our wake. Running forward, we entered the keep and climbed a level towards where we believed the throne room to be. Inside the room we entered was an ape/boar demon guarding a naked, blond-haired, male elf chained to the wall - he was slumped on the floor unconscious with lacerations across his body (I knew the feeling). The room was quite ornate with tapestries and gargoyles (recently carved) with golden rails and fine carpets. The carpets were striking in appearance, showing vivid flames that almost seemed alive. On the nearest wall to us we could see a depiction of Marilliath overcoming her foes, whilst opposite was an image of the Lich, Ezollach, doing the same. Near the corner of the room was another image of Marilliath, this time killing dwarves in Olga. There were doors to our left and right and double doors ahead; through the door to our left we could see another vulture thing.
The demon reacted first, calling for aid and flying to our left, presumably to be near to reinforcements. Suddenly, Lanzi was lifted from his feet and flung across the room by an invisible force. He hit the wall to our right, knocking the wind from his lungs. Hintzu, Morwath and Merc ran forward to engage the one foe we could see, landing several solid blows. The light given off by my blessed gem was suddenly extinguished, and at the same time I was overtaken by an irrational fear of the unseen threat, turning to run straight through the wall behind me. Merc finished off the visible foe and Hintzu charged through the door to engage the vulture thing beyond, finding that there were orcs in the room manning arrow slits but they were unable to see him as he was not truely on the Prime.
The vulture thing howled before turning its attention to Hintzu, but the slight shift of concentration cost it its life, as Hintzu swept inside its guard to land a killing blow. Still seized by fear, I continued to flee without heed of where I might end up; fortunately Lanzi gave chase, so I was not alone. I was not the only one acting irrationally, though, as Hintzu seemed to be getting increasingly paranoid and grim, predicting his death and no longer trusting his friends - that is why he had charged on alone. Merc, concerned at his shift in behaviour, called upon his faith to remove any fear, although he was not sure that it had the desired effect.
I continued to flee, and in my flight I lost my connection with the plane we had been travelling on; I emerged into the Prime in mid-air, thankfully heading at some speed towards the nearest wall. I crashed into the parapet, but fortunately my landing was cushioned somewhat by the enemy forces that manned the wall. Unfortunately, I was now fully visible to them and constrained by all the normal laws of nature! Thank Odin that the mess I had made of them prevented any of their hurried blows from connecting with me. Lanzi's pursuit also meant that Hintzu, Merc and Morwath were also thrown back to the Prime. The orcs around Hintzu reacted quickly to his appearance and started firing arrows at him, but his skills were more than able to avoid or deflect them. Merc opened another door, as if things weren't bad enough already, to reveal a large room with braziers and torches providing light, and occupied by more demons.
The room was highly decorated, with a jungle scene on the South wall seen as if looking down on a mountain range; evil flying creatures were seen emerging from the jungle. To the East was a forest scene with Sylvan elves, brownies and hobbits preparing to defend against a Tanar'ri invading force; two figures dominated the scene, with a Sylvan Queen holding up her hand and a blue light glowing from it - but Marilliath doing the same with a red light glowing. To the North was Olga and Findor's stair, upon which was Marilliath looking triumphant. To the West was a port scene; the wharf was burning and various creatures, including the accursed undead, were attacking from a flotilla. A male elf in silver scale mail with dark hair wielding a blue sword was being slain by Marilliath, her arms all directing weapons at his body. The room was also carpeted and the ceiling was painted a deep purple and red.
I was surrounded by enemies on the wall, but Lanzi and Si-Ti-Qa were just behind me and were able to use their dweomer to cause those around me to flee in fear. The only problem was that I was doing the same! Lanzi decided that this was not a time for moral concerns, which in this case was probably for the best, and took control of my mind for himself - ordering me to follow him, which I did without hesitation.
Hintzu was happily mincing orcs, who were no match for his skill; after a few had died the remaining creatures began to back away nervously, and Hintzu generously allowed them to flee with their lives. Merc stood alone against a gang of demons and, naturally, attacked the largest. He was hasted and his weapons carved bloody furrows in his opponent. Unfortunately these foes would not back down, and a horrible glyph appeared in the air before him. His mind struggled to comprehend it, and without knowing it he began to flee in unnatural terror, being hit as he did so. Morwath alone remained in the room that we had entered, although the sight of Merc fleeing past and bashing a door down did nothing to reassure him. Still he held firm, knowing that we would try to regroup there.
I had finally regained the use of my mind, horrified at having abandoned my friends so quickly. Lanzi gave me the ability to fly, albeit slowly, and left a message in my mind to join him on the parapet of the keep before blinking out of existence. I made my way up and back to the keep as quickly as I could, but it would take some time and Lanzi would have to fend for himself in the meantime. He found that the roof of the keep was occupied with siege engines and their crews, blocking the way to the door that would take him into the keep. As he surveyed the scene, however, a section of the wall began to collapse. Morwath, aware that the group had become separated, had decided to mark his location by turning a large section of the keep wall into mud. The resulting hole made it obvious where he was, but also made the wall very unstable!
Hintzu had returned, and now faced the demons that Merc had run from, killing one, but unable to stop all of their advance towards Morwath. He decided that he had better locate Lanzi and I, and jumped through the hole he had created, shifting form into an eagle as he did so and soaring upwards. I had seen the disturbance (who could not have) and changed my direction to head for the hole in the wall.
Merc had run through a few rooms without pause, but recovered his senses reasonably quickly. He found himself in a sleeping quarters occupied by Hobgoblins. Ignoring such unworthy foes, he turned and began to make his way back. Unknown to him, Lanzi was making his way down to a similar area from the roof, having used the distraction of the wall collapsing to evade any enemies so far. Hintzu was now the one standing ground and fighting while the rest of us attempted to rejoin him. Despite being alone he managed to avoid their attacks, and eventually felled another one.
Just as it seemed that Merc and Lanzi might join Hintzu, they were both stopped in their tracks. Lanzi, having run from pillar to post since we entered the keep, finally found that his body could not sustain the effort any more and had to stop to recover. Fortunately his dweomer still kept him safe from detection, for the moment at least. Merc was stopped in a rather more physical way, being lifted from his feet and thrown into a wall opposite yet more demons. He recovered quickly and lept to attack them, not ready to turn his back on such a foe. Hintzu, then, fought on alone. Just as it seemed that things could not get worse, he was suddenly enveloped in dweomer-spawned darkness, unable to see at all. Quickly, he used his ring to send fire flaring in an arc around him, then struck out at the foes he knew to be close.
Merc was fighting three demons, killing two before taking a telling blow from the last; although bleeding from numerous cuts he fought on and eventually brought down the last of his opponents, giving him a temporary respite. Meanwhile Hintzu fought on in total darkness, and despite the loss of his sight he was still able to land blows on the demons - his other senses honed by years of disciplined training. I arrived in the gap in the wall just as Morwath swooped back down to meet me. I called upon Odin to bring light to the darkness, and his grace cleared the room of the unnatural blackness. Stood in the centre, alone and surrounded by the dead bodies of the creatures he had fought, stood Hintzu. Just as we were about to heap praise upon him, he ran from the room, heading upstairs. We looked at each other, but had no explanation for his strange behaviour.
Lanzi, meanwhile, had attracted the attention of some Goblins; they could not see him, but were aware that something was not right. Desperate to defend Lanzi, Si-Ti-Qa charged at one of them and with repeated slashes and bites eventually brought it down. As the pool of blood expanded around it, Lanzi realised that Si-Ti-Qa had actually killed something! The elation was short lived, as a goblin arrow found its mark by chance and pain shot through him. Enraged, Si-Ti-Qa attacked again and again until the second Goblin lay dead as well.
Merc continued down the stairs in an attempt to rejoin the party, not knowing that Lanzi was now somewhere above him. He was confronted by some bear-like things with wings, but did not pause - just layed into the nearest one with fierce abandon until it lay dead at his feet. The other, perhaps fearing for its life, breathed a fiery cloud at Merc causing him considerable pain. Despite his fresh wounds, he did not falter and pressed his attacks against this new threat. Soon it, too, lay dead and Merc was able to continue. Thankfully, he now joined us in the original room.
Now we were only missing Hintzu and Lanzi, although we did not have to wait long; Hintzu came running back to us as fast as he had left, pursued by another demon - would this assault never end? It looked as though Hintzu would continue to run, beset by some affliction of the mind, and I called upon Odin to banish this new foe in the hope that it would help him. Odin's blessing was truely upon us as the beast disappeared with a foul shriek back from whence it had come, and Hintzu recovered long enough to recognise us as friends.
Hintzu set off in search of Lanzi, while I tended to Merc's wounds. I had to use Odin's most powerful gifts to bring him back to a state fit to continue the fight. Hintzu came across the dead Goblins and Lanzi's voice bid him to stop. Si-Ti-Qa appeared and led Hintzu (with Lanzi following in his invisible state) back to rejoin us. We were once again reunited and we took a moment to tend to the worst of each others wounds.
Finally able to do something about the Elf we discovered earlier, we took him into another room and sealed the door behind us. His name was Galed, a Sea Elf recently captured by the enemy. He told us that Marilliath was in a lower crypt and that we would have to descend through the keep if we wished to reach her. Not wishing to lose her, and trying to regain the initiative, we left at once. At least the foe would be confused by reports of our fighting all over the keep!
We descended into a cloistered corridor that took us to a room with a drop at the far end and a door to our left. The stench of death rose from the trench, and a glance into it revealed a pile of bodies and remains at the bottom. We quickly passed through the door and continued, although the charnel pit extended over several rooms. Suddenly we were enveloped in silence, unable to say or hear anything. Fearing an attack, we readied our weapons and began to use hand signals to communicate. Unfortunately we could not see Morwath at the rear of the party hacking madly about him - he had felt something touch him with chill hands. Merc was the first to notice, and ran to join Morwath in slashing at the unseen foe. Soon we were all flailing around, although no foe was apparent and no contact was made.
I felt a chill touch, and suddenly a feeling of weakness passed through me. I dropped my mace of death and gasped, although none could hear me. Drawing my rod of striking I struck out at where I thought the attack came, but to no avail. The dweomer in my girdle allowed me to recover, and I sheepishly collected my weapon from the floor. As I did so I saw that Galed was prone and unmoving, and a strange shadow surrounded him. I grabbed Merc and gesticulated at the scene, and as I did so the shadow slid along the floor towards the charnel pit. We both called upon our Gods to drive the thing away, but we could not tell if we were successful as it was gone in a moment.
Lanzi reached a door on the far side and opened it to reveal another room beyond, with stairs leading down in the corner. Creatures were emerging from the stairs into the room, trying to cut us off. I began dragging Galed towards the door, unwilling to leave him to the attentions of the shadow but unaware of the danger I was moving toward. Merc pointed out the more immediate threat, and I jogged to Lanzi's side to defend him. As I did so, Morwath threw a jar against the wall of the charnel pit and it exploded in flames - he then went quite mad, slashing all about him with his scimitar and backing away from the walls and any shadow that flickered near him.
Lanzi used his dweomer to call forth a storm of ice into the room beyond, hopefully hurting the creatures within. In an attempt to keep the momentum of the attack up, I then charged into the room to do battle; as I do so, however, I hurtled into something invisible and bounced sideways against the wall with a crash. I then realised that I could hear again! Recovering quickly, I swung in front of me and landed a solid hit on the thing that I had collided with. Lanzi was now doing battle with the invisible creature, using his monocle to see what I could not. Other large creatures were in the room, but as I watched they blinked away, appearing instead behind Morwath. Lanzi caused a hypnotic, swirling pattern to appear and move away from him, and this seemed to give him some relief from his fight.
For a moment Lanzi and I were out of danger, but to my horror it was not to last. First hands, then arms and heads appeared over the side of the charnel pit and dozens of decaying bodies dragged themselves up and began to cross the room towards us, animated by some evil dweomer. I had seen such things before and called upon Odin to turn these foul abominations back; Odin's grace was strong with me and the creatures exploded in red misty clouds, fragments of bone falling harmlessly to the floor. We were alone again.
Behind us, though, a battle was raging. Hintzu and Merc were fighting the demons that had appeared behind them, and between them were able to kill one. The other, perhaps recognising its folly, blinked out of sight again - this time emerging in our room, near to Lanzi. I had just finished a prayer to Odin, and charged at the creature to keep its attention away from Lanzi, unfortunately I stumbled and my intended attack did not make contact. More creatures appeared all around us, and the stench of undeath was thick in the room once more. Again I called upon Odin to aid us, and again his power destroyed the abominations utterly. Hintzu was hurrying to help us, but ran into an invisible creature as I had done. A torch exploded with bright light in the room behind him, blinding Morwath who was too close to shield his eyes in time. Despite all this confusion, I found myself face to face with the creature that had fled from Merc and Hintzu; at last a simple, stand-up fight ensued - one that I triumphed in, felling the beastie with solid blows.
Hintzu, not bothering to get up from his unexpected tumble, swung his weapon from the floor and connected again and again until the invisible creature could take no more and fell lifeless by his side. Only the shadows remained a threat now, and I took out my gem to cast daylight across the room - if they were to attack then we should have some warning. Lanzi quickly quaffed a potion, and it seemed for a moment that he looked a little younger, although I'm sure that my eyes deceived me!
We headed quickly for the stairs, following them down to another room; predictably it was guarded by more demons, and (also predictably) Merc and Hintzu charged at them. Merc was quickly engaged, but Hintzu ran into yet another invisible foe! An orb of many colours flew over our heads from Lanzi, although it did not seem to connect with anything, and I called once more on Odin's grace to protect me from evil. Morwath also resorted to dweomer, but this time he outlined the unseen foe in a twinkling green light, which was helpful but also a little intimidating, as I found that it had singled me out for its attention!
Thankfully, Odin protects! With his grace now guiding my arm, I swung a solid blow at its midriff and the thing was sent back to its own plane with a loud crack. I could see that Merc had also dealt with one of the creatures, although in a more traditional way. Lanzi used his dweomer to sap the strength of the last foe, which seemed a little unfair as Merc was able to cut it to ribbons before I could even reach it.
With a few moments of peace, we secured the doors and allowed Lanzi to inspect the room with his monocle. We were right to do so, as he discovered a hidden door in the side wall that was shaped like a cobra's head and ominously shimmered with reds and blacks, clearly not your normal door. The chime of opening successfully gave us access, and we began to descend another staircase. Merc almost stumbled into a trap, a pit opening at his feet, but he was being cautious and Hintzu was there to steady him. The party jumped across, although I was able to use my new cloak to climb along the wall, thus avoiding the danger. We were met with a door at the bottom of the stairs, and Hintzu bade us listen.
We heard voices from beyond the door:
"I advise you to leave now, Ma'am; they have broken through into the upper halls. They seem powerful. I am sure your minions will not hold them."
"I will not leave! Bring my people to me!"
The second voice was that of Marilliath and, not waiting to hear more, Merc shouted "She is here!" and charged through the door, weapons flashing. Personally I prefer a more subtle approach, involving scouting out the foe and looking for a weakness before striking, but I fear that there is no place for such tactics in this company. The room was a newly-created throne room of sorts. Marilliath did indeed occupy the room, sat upon her throne. However, between her and the door we had entered from were a number of Drow dressed in battle armour, two large red demons, two large green demons and many Gith (perhaps Merc had smelt them, which would explain his tactical choice). Disturbingly, the opulent room was dominated by a large table that had what looked like human remains upon it, as well as an ashtray with smoking cheroots. A glowing orb was suspended above a pedestal on the far side of the room, near to a collection of braziers. Flames rose towards the roof, where souls were depicted rising up off the Prime in agony and torture, seemingly intermingled with the smoke rising towards them.
A fireball exploded in our midsy, somewhat slowing our advance, although Merc and Hintzu seemed undeterred and were soon in a furious melee. Another fireball exploded and Morwath decided that a wall of thorns to slow the enemy's forces might help to buy us some time. This did help our fighters, giving them a little space. This was all they needed to press their advantage, and soon both had killed a pair of foes each. It was just as we seemed to be getting the upper hand that things started to go downhill...
Suddenly creatures started to appear in our midst - dangerous looking, but strangely seductive, feminine creatures with wings were joined by horrible, horned scaly things all around us. Just to make things worse, the stairs were filled with a noxious gas, preventing us from using them for cover without braving the ill effects it might bring. Morwath was caught in the gas cloud, and doubled up in a retching fit. I managed to finish asking for Odin's protection from the fire that kept washing over us before having to look to my defence.
Merc and Hintzu continued their fight, killing two more of the foe, but now the fight had spread out. Lanzi unleashed his dweomer, killing some of the Drow. More fire was thrown at us, with a burning wall and another fireball hitting in quick succession. If it were not for Odin's protection I would have surely been dead at that point, as it was I found myself still alive but in mortal danger. Merc had turned to flight, running up the stairs, and Hintzu had followed, using his ring of air to blow the noxious gas away. I was alone in a room full of foul creatures intent on my destruction!
My first concern was the intense heat radiating from the wall of fire before me, and I called upon Odin to dispell this dweomer-spawned threat. The wall guttered and faded as quickly as it had risen, but I was now a clear target and arrows from the Drow whistled past my head. Thankfully Merc and Hintzu ran back into the room, relishing the opportunity to close with the foe without any fire or gas to impede them. Before I knew it another three of the foe were down, including the leader of the Drow whose neck was snapped by a powerful blow under the chin by Hintzu. Another fireball exploded - was there no end to their dwoemer?! My desperate defence had so far been solid, but with the floor increasingly slick with blood it was harder to avoid blows without slipping and eventually a blow found its mark, knocking the wind from me.
I had taken too many wounds and burns, but could not withdraw without exposing myself dangerously. Again, I turned to Odin for aid, asking that he withdraw me from the chaotic fight for a chance to recover. My prayer was answered, and the fight slowed to a near standstill before my eyes. Now easily able to avoid any creatures that struck out at me, I was able to use Odin's blessing to heal my wounds and plan my next move before I was thrown back into the thick of it.
As I was thrown back into the fight, a look of surprise came over the creature that had aimed a blow at where I used to be and I used the advantage to twist away to relative safety at Hintzu's side. Morwath caused more thorns to sprout into the room, trying to trap Marilliath in place to stop her fleeing. I did not see why she should need to flee at the moment, though! Lanzi used his dweomer to lower her resistance to his attacks, hoping to strike at her directly. Despite the frantic melee, this was a battle of dweomer. Another fireball exploded in our midst, although I was able to brush off the worst of it now. In response, a lightning bolt flew from Lanzi towards Marilliath, although it seemed not to affect her. Hintzu felled more Drow, whilst Merc killed one of the mighty demons.
Marilliath dispelled the thorns that were slowing her down, leaving her free to move again, but Morwath was anticipating this move and called more thorns forth to hold her in place; her shrieks of anger were terrible. Merc and Hintzu killed a demon each, moving on to the Gith that were just entering the fight for the first time. Just as Merc was starting to slaughter them, Lanzi conjured a sheet of thick ice above their heads - it fell with a crash that shook the room and left all the Gith unlucky enough to be beneath it dead! Marilliath had also been caught by it, but shook off the ice to shriek at the remaining Gith to attack.
Morwath was again calling on the power of nature to aid us, and as the Gith advanced a mouth appeared beneath their feet, snapping at them and swallowing two whole! I called Odin's vengence down on Marilliath, causing a mighty tower of flame to crash down at her, but whatever foul powers she served protected her from harm. Merc dispatched the last of the Gith, only for Marilliath to charge at him! She wore the red, four-pointed crown and, not knowing what powers it might grant her, I prayed for Odin's favour again.
As she charged, Morwath once again called thorns forth from the ceiling and trapped her before she could engage. Lanzi then unleashed a storm of icy particles, the razor sharp pieces ripping through her flesh and into the last demons that still stood by the glowing orb. Hintzu and Merc followed the storm of ice with one of blades and blows. With a piercing final cry, Marilliath fell lifeless to the floor.
With the death of their mistress, the final two demons disappeared with a flash, leaving us alone. Merc bent down to the lifeless body that was rapidly fading out of existence and took the beautiful crown and a leather pouch that was hung around her neck. Hintzu moved to secure the other door, worried that we might have more minions to deal with.
Lanzi stepped up to Merc, claiming that the crown should be his in respect for his lost brother, although there might have been a flicker of avarice in his eyes as he did so; regardless, Merc handed the crown to him without argument. Still revolted by the sight of the human remains on the table, I said a prayer for the poor unfortunate's soul. In the pouch, as we predicted, was a gem shard and Merc tossed the pouch to Morwath for safe keeping.
Lanzi warned us all to stay away from the braziers, and then asked if I had a means to get us out of the keep. I did not - I was relying on Lanzi for that! Luckily he still had the ability to move us to the demi-plane of shadows should we need to. It was then that Hintzu heard drums in the distance, and we found a new sense of urgency.
Merc moved towards the door and Hintzu, intending to bolster the defence, but in his haste he forgot Lanzi's warning and stepped into the circle of braziers by the palantir. He stopped and turned towards it, looking deep into the mysterious globe. As we watched he started speaking to it and then, to our alarm, walking towards it. Hintzu instinctively moved to intercept him, but then was transfixed by the palantir himself, seeing a beautiful, pale, female elf wreathed in blues and violets speaking to Merc. Lanzi and I ran towards the pair of them, afraid of what influence might be affecting them. Meanwhile Morwath, oblivious to what was transpiring behind him, was sorting through the trinkets and chests that stood behind Marilliath's throne!
Merc looked at Hintzu, shaking his head, his eyes showed fear - although whether it was at what was happening to him or what might happen to him next we did not know. We were not to find out, either, as he took one more step forward and vanished! Hintzu, also drawn to the palantir, fell forward to his knees as he tried to fight its call. Lanzi rushed to smother the palantir and I ran to grab Hintzu, both of us arriving at the same time. At once the spell was broken and Hintzu was himself again. He was left with a vision of a laughing face and the impression that we should not follow where Merc had been taken. He thanked me and climbed to his feet, while Lanzi struggled to contain the palantir in his robes, having to drop his staff as he did so.
Morwath called to us - he had found a pouch with an unknown powder and a note from Marilliath to Morganes. The note read:
Morganes, find here within the ingredients you require to create your potion, supplied by Cillian and at great personal expense. This had better work! My message for the Great Serpent is simple – I would wish to parley. I have much to offer her – including, perhaps her freedom. In exchange, I require assistance with the thorny issue of a certain city - Nega.
Inwe, your Queen, has also made it clear to me that I should help her find one called Mercantire Carass – it seems he might be coming to pay me a visit – if I am to continue to receive the support of your folk. I am tired of her petty whims and demands; I, therefore, seek to break this invisible bond as it binds too tightly and look to the serpent to aid me in my endeavour. I am certain that a move against your much hated queen will be of mutual benefit; it will also serve to ensure your folk know their place in the struggle for control of the Prime. They should not forget our reach!
Let her also know that I have much intelligence of her new master; much of it I am sure would not please her or the one that sent her to the Prime. Finally, if she still has the Sea Elf’s blade, encourage her to open the market. Let her know that there is more than one interested customer.
It seemed that we had walked into a trap - one in which Marilliath was but a pawn in the games of Inwe, and Merc had been taken from us as she planned! Cillian, it became clear, was the female that we had seen with the Gith Prince in Aarda... and she might have shared a master with Lanzi in the Western realms. Unable to do anything about Merc's disappearance now, Lanzi urged us to make haste in leaving. He stuck the crown on his head in order to free a hand to collect his staff, but stood shock still, his back straightening. I thought for a moment that he was in trouble, but a moan of ecstacy escaped his lips and he started hopping around in excitement and his understanding of the power contained within grew. He had a new toy - one that was dangerously powerful.
Hintzu jammed his dirk in the mechanism of the door and hurried to Morwath's side, hoping to sort the useful items from the coins and chests so that we might have anything of use before we left. We all pitched in to shorten the task until we had as much as we dared take. Lanzi then moved us onto the demi-plane of shadows once more and Morwath disguised us as Tanar'ri, as they seemed to be at the top of the pecking order. We made our escape quite easily in the confusion, moving our arms like chickens to simulate the beating of our new 'wings' to assist in the illusion.
We continued down the river towards Celinas until we were well clear of Ochi and able to rest in the forest on the Southern bank. Here we discussed our next move.