Session 24
The Veil Parted: Part 1
Embedded Files
Chapter 1: Arriving in the Dark
Chapter 1: Arriving in the Dark
They stepped through the portal and found themselves falling down a shaft of blended light, stone, and mud. The sensation was not pleasant or gentle as a wind tore at them. Shapes in the walls hurtling by you were oddly reminiscent of faces with pleading eyes and gaping mouths. The whine in their ears could be the wind or the scream of the countless faces around them. And then the fall ended. They were dumped out of the portal onto cold, unyielding stone. The landing was hard and they arrived in complete darkness. They seemed to be in one piece, and only a bit banged up. The air was stale but breathable.
They lit torches and saw the ruins of a city vaguely similar to Tyr but covered with a wall of sand turned to stone. Ruins of an ancient city surrounded them. Following the rough map they had, T'taka stopped to collect some trinkets from an old dye shop.
Chapter 2: The Triumphant Arch
Chapter 2: The Triumphant Arch
They traveled through the darkened streets of UnderTyr. Empty windows and gaping doorways stood in mute witness to their passage through the splendor that had fallen into ruin. Ahead, they saw a great arch built across the road. The arch did not have a gate and didn’t seem to be of any defensive value. It was carved with triumphant scenes of animals they had never seen before. The scale was staggering, and the artwork was beautiful.
Chapter 3: The Ghost Boy
Chapter 3: The Ghost Boy
They noticed a young boy hiding behind one of the pediments that supported the great arch. He was wearing a fine linen tunic that only covered one shoulder and sandals. His dark, curly hair fell in unruly ringlets about his face. More importantly, he was the translucent white of a disembodied spirit.
He told them he was Kefur son of Lord Hiram and he was concerned they were like the others that came before, defilers. He was not sure he should help them and he then disappered into the stone.
Chapter 4: Crushed Under the Weight
Chapter 4: Crushed Under the Weight
Ahead of them, a home had collapsed under the weight of the vault ceiling, which was especially low at this point. A spirit knelt on the ground in front of the building with his forehead bowed to the pavement. The sorrow of his wailing cry was palatable.
They climbed atop the rubble and freed a woman's skeletal remains and brought them to the wailing man.He rose and touched her crushed skull before vanishing. Kefur's spirit returned and asked them if their water had all gone before again disappearing.
Chapter 5: Hungry for the Light
Chapter 5: Hungry for the Light
The street they followed opened up onto a plaza. A statue of a woman stood in the center of the plaza. Her dress was carved into the likeness of flowing linen and a crown rested lightly on her head. The paving stones were beautifully decorated here in lines radiating out from the statue’s pediment. In the darkness at the edge of the plaza, they heard whispered voices.
T'Taka climbed the statue and those with light were approached by the whispering spirits hungry for the light. All save Shank tossed their lights which were soon swallowed by the spirits. Shank then tossed his when they began to drain his life force. Kefur then made another appearance telling them that “It’s not their fault. The light of the world was taken away from them. He stole their sky.”
Chapter 6: Statues of Salt
Chapter 6: Statues of Salt
Their path to the True’s base took them through a large civic hall. The high ceilings were a wonder of engineering not seen in Tyr today. Regrettably, the flowing stone that formed the vault over Under Tyr sheered the ceiling at its arched peak, causing several of the marble pillars that hold up the roof to collapse. Their shattered lengths created massive barriers across the length of the hall. Among the tumbled pillars were statues made out of an irregular white rock. They were carved to look like men and women, adorned with arms and armor of an earlier age. Courage was written on their features, and there was something noble about their visage. At the feet of three of the statues laid bodies. They wore black tunics like the True who preceded them through the portal, but they were withered and desiccated as if they were left out in the sun for days.
It was a trap leftover from Kalak's battle with the nobles of the city. Shank tried to battle the living salt statues but his magical axe shattered when he struck one down only for it to rise again. The group fled the hall avoiding the water draining salt statues and Safi used an unseen servant to collect the shards of Shank's axe.
Chapter 7: The Sealed Bathhouse
Chapter 7: The Sealed Bathhouse
Sweeping stairs led up to a large, ornate building that dominated this section of the street. Its façade was adorned with carvings of water, either tumbling down in falls, cascading over rapids, or collecting in hidden grottos. Seamless stone sealed every door and window. The sealing did not seem to be part of the original design. The seal was broken in the corner of one of the great doors of the main entrance. Judging from the rubble strewn nearby, someone hacked a way inside and did so recently.
Exploring the interior they saw strange murals of watery scenes surrounding silt filled basins in the center of the rooms. Karnos nearly got stuck trying to exit the gap.
Chapter 6: Guardians of the Green
Chapter 6: Guardians of the Green
Before them was an ancient building, better-preserved than much of the area around it. It was bordered by a number of chiseled doorways around its perimeter decorated with hands facing outward, their palms open. The room lacked furniture of any kind; at the center of its clear floor was a large mural of a hand, each of its five mottled purple fingers ending in a sharp point. The only other feature was a grouping of ancient stone sarcophagi at the far southern end of the room. In between the sarcophagi was an archway sealed by a stone door with no visible handle or lock.
Without warning or sound, ghostly figures appeared filling each doorway of this room. Also appearing suddenly and without a sound were five gaunt, mummified figures, adorned in beautiful metal jewelry and expensive clothing. Their eyes glowed like green embers and the one most in the center of the group pointed at them, uttering words in an archaic form of Tyrian common. “Soldiers of Kalak! You have trespassed where you ought not!”
A tough battle ensued where Shank dashed about flailing at them and was struck many times, nearly mortally. T'Taka was paralyzed early on and was unable to assist but the group prevailed.
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