Embedded Files
PREVIOUSLY - CAMPAIGN DIARIES 12 - RETURN TO THE CAVES OF CHAOS
Day 42 - Further Continued
Day 42 - Further Continued
The team leaves the room where they had killed the evil adepts of elemental fire. They are aware it is approaching sundown, and soon the prisoners of the canyon will be dinner for the various creatures within. Time is their enemy. They continue on into the depths of the cavern where they originally spied Lucern, the head priest of this cult. Proceeding down the great hallway, they passed a door with some moaning inside, and avoided the potential clash with zombies.
The enters a large temple, with vile tapestries on the walls and a strange light flickering above the alter from no apparent source. There are four symbols in front of the alter, and Immeral identifies them as the symbols of Elemental Evil - earth, air, fire, water.
There are four ashen outlines burnt onto the symbols - a trident, a knife, a spear and war pick. Immeral examines the outlines, but just then, something happens. As Nowhere studies the lights dancing at the one end of the room, a strange empty stare comes over her face. She freezes and starts chanting in a foreign tongue.
TEXT TO COME
The group turns to her and luckily, before they have to act, Nowhere shakes off the evil possession and tells the group to avoid looking at the wall and the magical lights.
The weapon outlines seem forgotten.
Seraphina remarks that normally a cleric will have his quarters near the altar, so the group takes the passage nearby. There is a finely decorated waiting area before a door, and three robed creatures. Their moans and smell give them away as zombies and they lunge at the group. Their attack is shortlived, but they manage to slam Orryn against a wall, injuring him, but his teammates cut the vile dead down quickly.
Within the room a door can be heard slamming, and when they open it to view the chamber beyond, it is empty. They quickly root through the room while Orryn examines the statue of devil hanging above the bed. It emanates evil and magic, but fascinated with the large gem eyes, he can't resist. Orryn goes to knock it off the wall with his war pick, but as it falls, the eyes glow and it shoots from the wall, bashing him nearly unconscious. Immeral rifles through a desk, grabbing a sheaf of papers to examine later, while the others search for secret passages.
Suddenly, a bell starts ringing from the temple, and they know they are discovered. They search the room for secret passages and find one in the back of a dresser, so they pass through. On the other side, the short passage opens back to the main hallway and they hear noise from the temple. Nowhere ventures a sneak a peek and Lucern is commanding a squad of zombies and skeletons piling out from a nearby room, when they hear hurried footsteps from the south.
They close the door, crammed into the tight secret space, and as the reinforcements pass, they make a break for it. Piling out of the secret passage, they hear a shout behind them, but don't turn - they run. K'ronk considers throwing down a pair of oil flasks and lighting them ablaze to slow their pursuers, but then he remembers his Staff of Power. He turns, and with a swing of the Staff, magically fills the hallway with ice, trapping the villainous foes. The zombies on their heals quickly reach the wall and start pounding. They know they have only 10 minutes, so they quickly form a plan.
They race back outside and to the top of the canyon, knowing the ice wall will disappear when they move the Staff too far away. Luckily, they are unseen in the murky twilight as the denizens of the canyon are building fires to roast their evening supper. At the top of the canyon, just inside the woods, they reunite with Lady D their owlbear companion and gather quickly. Immeral and Atlas don a pair of red cloaks they had stolen from the evil elemental adepts, just as they hear a yell from below.
"Intruders! The canyon has intruders - they must be found and brought to me! Search your caves, search the hills, do not let them escape!"
A mad scramble erupts below as the minions of Lucern race around and up the canyon. As as the sounds of approaching footsteps reach the party, K'ronk casts a spell to disguise himself as Lucern, as Seraphina, Orryn, Nowhere and Dain kneel before the faux Lucern and his red-robed faux disciples. A squad of bugbears from the canyon approaches.
"Master, are these the intruders?"
"Yes, and I have them in my control. I need the rest of the humans brought to me."
"The ones for dinner?" the bugbear commander asks.
"All of them, yes! This is a personal matter and I want them brought to me NOW!"
The bugbears scramble down the hillside, and luckily do not run into the real Lucern. They return in short order with a shambling group of prisoners, most human, one dwarf, and present them to "Lucern".
"What are we to do with them master?"
"I will handle them, leave us now."
"This is very strange master." the Bugbear returns.
"Do not disobey me! Respect my authority and do as I command or pay the price." K'ronk commands. "Return to the canyon and tell everyone that I have the matter under control."
The bugbears scurry off, and when out of site, K'ronk tells terrified former prisoners. "Don't be frightened, we are here to rescue you." Before the sobbing can escalate, K'ronk continues, "we must be quiet and we must be quick, follow us."
The group quickly races around the canyon in the direction of their secret camp, hoping not to run into more of the creatures of the caves, but some distance out, they run into a squad of Gnolls, humanoid hyenas with sharp teeth and a ferocious appetite for human flesh.
Still in disguise, K'ronk tries to send them off. "This is a personal matter, return to the canyon!"
"You're not taking our dinner away" one of the gnolls yips.
The party quickly attacks, gaining surprise and quickly defeating them, with the help of Lady D who bites the head off one of the gnolls as directed by Orryn. They run off into the night back to their camp, more than two hours away but at the slow pace of starving prisoners who need guidance in the dark. Along the way, K'ronk's disguise wears off and although his visage is startling to some of them, they are thankful for his help and the entire league's rescue.
Nowhere feeds the party some magical goodberries, which staves off their hunger and gives them some healing.
The group crams into camp, and although the prisoners are cold, they cant risk a fire, so they huddle together in the few tents as the league stands watch during the night. There is some crying and sobbing, both in fear and relief. The team doubles their usual watch, aware that they are not far from the main trail, and that the creatures of the canyon are nocturnal, and likely searching for them.
The night goes uneventfully, and Nowhere the Tiefling, during her watch widens her patrol. As a Gloomstalker, she can see great distances in the dark, is nearly invisible to those with Darkvision, and is silent in her Boots of Elvenkind. She is literally a terror in the darkness. On her rounds, she hears a scurrying, but not a search party. She approaches carefully and sees at a distance a creature covered with fur, with four arms and mandibles protruding from its mouth. It is a frightening sight, but as Nowhere observes it, is seems scared, glancing about an any sound of the forest. She watches a while, then calls out to the creature.
"Hello." The thing stops in its tracks, and crouches, looking like it is about to flee, when she speaks out again. "I'm not going to hurt you."
The furry creature approaches tentatively, one slow step at a time with a strange shield and sword at the ready.
"I'm Nowhere" the adventurer tells him.
"I Brek" the humanoid tells him in broken common, slurred by spider-like mandibles which protrude from his mouth. His visage is frightening, but his actions demure.
"I am a Tiefling, what are you?" while displaying her tail and pointing out her horns.
"I Chitine" he replies.
"Where are you from?" Nowhere asks.
"Hole below the stones." Breck replies.
"Are you looking for something?" Nowhere continues.
"Look find new home. Ulweyn send Brek."
The ranger thinks about this for a bit. "Will you come back to my camp and tell my friends. You will be safe."
Then Brek thinks for a moment. "Yes." and Nowhere leads him off into the night.
Orryn meets them just outside the camp, and Nowhere tells him to wake their group so they can hear Brek's tale. They stay back a bit outside camp so not to startle their rescued prisoners. The others rise from their slumber and form a wide circle around the creature as Nowhere introduces Brek and states that he came from beneath the stones, and is looking for a new home at the request of someone named Ulweyn.
"Why do you need a new home?" Nowhere questions.
"Home is now bad. Caullum now bad. Bad things happen. Chitine be bad. Ulweyn take good Chitine up. Leave bad Chitine down. Stairs to sky open, Ulweyn tell some to look for new home. Open sky scary." the Chitine stammers in broken Common.
"How many Chitine are down below?" Orryn asks.
"Many Chitine, Chitine city."
"Wow" Orryn replies. "What kind of home do you need?"
"Ulweyn say forest. Many trees. Hunting. Water. Good Chitine make new city."
The party discusses for a bit. Bringing them out into the hills would leave them victim to the orcs and more if their threat is not ended. They discuss taking them close to Phandlin, but the inhabitants might not like a spider-city nearby. There is the forest near Conyberry, they could stay clear of Agatha the Banshee and be alright, but they likely need to talk with this Ulweyn.
"Brek, will you stay here with us until morning, then we can go see Ulweyn? We can talk to Ulweyn, I think we can help." asks Nowhere.
"Brek go Chitine home now, tell Ulweyn you help." he responds. "Find you at stones. Morning."
"Alright Brek, we will meet you there."
Then Brek turns with some enthusiasm and scurries off into the darkness in the direction of the stones.
Nowhere tells the group, "let's get some rest before sunrise - we still have a few hours."
The next shift comes on and keeps watch until daylight breaks the night. In the morning they gather the former prisoners.
Orryn informs them. "We are not joining you all the way to Phandalin. It's daylight now, the orcs and bugbears wont be out, we will walk you up to the Triboar trail and make sure you are safe." There is some protest, but there is also continued thanks, and the party explains that there are still things they have to do once they are gone, the rescued ones likely think the Owlbear League means to attack the remaining creatures of the canyon. They hand over some weapons to the humans who look able to defend themselves, and some of their rations and they set forth to see them to the main road back to Phandalin.
Questions pick at the party during the several hour walk back to the main road. What will be found below in Brek's home? What has corrupted the Chitine and separated them into good and bad? What is going on back at the Caves of Chaos and how can they end its threat for good? What were the weapons, and why were they sent to Red Larch. Where has that red wizard gone, and what is he doing in the Sword Coast anyway?
NEXT - MORNING DECISIONS
Google Sites
Report abuse