PREVIOUSLY - CAMPAIGN DIARIES 15 - VALD LEADS THE WAY

Day 43 Continued - Uncharted Territory

One of his four arms mangled, Vald, the chitine warrior, steadies himself after his battle with the phantom spiders.

"Are you OK Vald?" Nowhere asks.

"No, but I can sling my arm." he replies.

Vald takes a breath, squats down, pulls his tunic aside, and starts spraying a gray weblike material from his undercarriage. The party steps back in amazement. He gathers some of the webbing and starts forming it into a band, then a sling, and he places it over his head and around the one arm which is still bleeding slightly.

"Let us continue."

The astounded party carries on, slowly traveling down the dark hallway with Vald in tow. They pass the room where the phantom spiders attacked from, but make no move to examine the web-filled chamber. They continue past another room, but this one has more in it. Two forms, hanging from the ceiling, wrapped in webbing. Fascinated, Dain pokes one with his javelin and a thick black-red ichor oozes out of the hole. Blood mixed with the viscous liquefying flesh of whatever poor creature met its fate here. He travels backwards in disgust.

Vald approaches the second corpse and tears the webbing from the face of the creature.

"It is a chitine." he states with his teeth-gritted voice. "Likely a guard from the chitine city."

The group searches the room, but finds nothing of interest and they continue on. There is a door in the long corridor they travel, and they listen before barging in. There is extremely faint music playing, but it is unlike the music they know, it is individual notes played on a deep base string - almost random sounding. They open the door to find a landing with a spiral stair heading downward.

At the end they find a round room with peeling plaster and debris of long broken statues strewn about the floor. The team searches and Immeral finds a secret door, narrowly missing a poisoned needle trapping the latch. The entrance opens to a cold room with a large crystal in the center of the room. The crystal appears covered in dust. The party waits before entering, but then the braver souls enter to examine the crystal. It appears to be ice, somehow magically prevented from melting for an unknown amount of time.

Nowhere clears a patch in the ice and sees a bulbous mass deep within, barely a shadow in the unlit room.

Orryn speaks. "This could be very bad, we should not mess with it, I can't imagine anything good frozen in there. It might be really bad to release, like a demon."

"That seems like a very bad thing to do." Vald states obviously.

Dain takes his javelin and pokes the ice, but it does little.

Seraphina suggests she could cast Sacred Flame and melt the ice. The party agrees and they step back while she invokes the power of her god, The Raven Queen, and a flame descends over the ice.

The group has seen Seraphina use this power before, but this time it is different - the normally sedate flame is a raging inferno, and in seconds the ice is gone, and the resident of the frozen block comes to life and attacks. Voices scream from the disappearing flames and a red horror with dozens of shark-toothed mouths appears out of the light. The sound from the many mouths is a horrifying babble that distracts the party, but some fight through it.

Writhing in agony, it spits a horrific sludge from one of its mouths towards Nowhere, and the spittle explodes in a blinding flash of light on the floor next her. Nowhere is able to shake off the effect, but while distracted, the beast attacks and several of the mouths clamp on to Nowhere, tearing at her flesh. She is hurt badly, and goes down.

Orryn wants to attack, but is overwhelmed by the horrific gibbering of the monster and pauses to gather himself.

Atlas rushes in and reaches into his Ki to unleash a flurry of blows, but finds himself slowed in glue-like secretions crawling across the floor from the monster. He fights free and assaults the creature with multiple blows of his magical gauntlets of ogre strength. Seraphina races over to Nowhere, where she employs Channel Divinity to heal her. Immeral backs away from the doorway, ensuring the rear is clear. Dain swings his mighty axe again and strikes - felling the creature as it bleeds red ichor across the floor.

The party considers "searching" the creature, but decide against cutting open the foul thing.

Vald states in his deadpan delivery "That was not a good idea."

The group returns to the stairs, and after some discussion, sends Nowhere and Orryn down to scope out the situation. They descend the spiral twenty feet, where the wall disappear and the stairs open into a huge cavern where they stand over a hundred feel over the surface below. They take great care to descend in silence, and take another assessment about half way. There, they look below to see two dead chitine laying on the ground by the foot of the stair. They head back up and inform the group to come quietly, and they descend in near silence.

There are strange musical sounds below, mixed with the sounds of a living cavern - squeaks of bats and rats, tumbles and echos of rock, and occasionally flashes of light from a nearby cave illuminate the darkness. They reach the bottom and see that the chitine have been killed by something very recently, something with swords. It is not apparent why, but seems recent. The team marches on in silence, heading northeast.

K'ronk looks at Vald for a moment, then at Orryn who seems interested in the idea, but nods concession to Vald. It does seem that K'ronk is still turning the idea over in his mind as they walk away - fingering one of the oil flasks on his hip.

The party decides to continue left, and after some travel down a dark natural passage, comes into another cavern, this one greatly tall with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. The party gathers at the entrance looking around for a threat, and by chance, Immeral notices a strange figure up amongst the stalactites. He makes the mistake of signaling the team with an obvious hand-gesture and the figures move. Two drow quickly swing across the ceiling and descend down handholds in the wall, they rush to attack.

They head back past the cavern of the staircase to another passage, then they hear some rustling sounds. They creep to investigate and find two chitine closing a passage with their webbing intermixed with rocks. Vald whispers... "They are closing the entrance to the underdark - it must have been opened recently. That is where the chitine escaped from the drow." The party backs away from the repair crew, leaving them unmolested. A short whispered conversation erupts - should they enter the underdark, is that where the evil came from? Perhaps that is where their enemy The Black Spider came into this region, and where he has returned to. Vald interrupts.

"This is the place where the chitine fled the hated drow. We blocked off the passage to the underdark to keep the drow away."

"Why did you have to flee the drow?" Immeral asks.

Vald tells them, "We were their experiments - they used their magic to make the chitine from men and spiders. It was horrible and we were their slaves. Yet the chitine were strong and we fought to be free and escaped. Afterwards, we made a home here."

They decide to pursue the southern route, around the outskirts of Habernia to where Vald feels they need to go.

They enter another passage and this time hear the splashing of water, notice the air heavier with humidity, and smell the musty, moldy scent of a wet cave. The enter, and stand in a very large cavern, too deep to see the back end, even with Nowhere's powerful darkvision. There is a massive pool of water with a small skiff on the shore. Some distance away in the underground lake stands a rocky island. Vald speaks. "This is the water source for the chitine. They come here often. We should hurry through."

As they walk along, they hear a voice from the darkness. "Hullo!" "Hullo from the island." with a distinct twang in his voice, spoken in the common tongue. The party freezes. "Can you help me? Those bastard spider-things done took me prisoner. I've been on this island for a week." The party panics. Is it some sort of strange siren or illusion? They can't see anything on the rock.

Orryn speaks. "You have to be quiet, but come out where we can see you."

K'ronk kindly digs out some rations - some dried venison and pear and hands them to the gnome.

Clinker responds with some rust and squeek in his old voice. "Thank you kindly. Bastard spider-people fed me only 'shrooms for the last week."

He chews them down and reaches into his vest, pulling out a flask which he uncorks. "This is Ol' Death Whisper". He says with a grin. "Mighty powerful. Would you like a sip? You only want a sip, a drop too much and you'll go blind in your left eye!" He passes it to Orryn and the gnome takes a smell. It smells like something out of an oil flask, something flammable.

"No thanks, I don't drink." Orryn decides.

"Suit yourself!" and Clinker tips back the flask for a sip. He clinches up and his left ear touches his raised shoulder, and his one eye squeezes shut. "See?"

They pull up to shore for some quick introductions.

"How did you get here?" Nowhere asks.

"Came in from the underdark." Clinker replies in a charming drawl. "Was following some drow, figured they had found some gold and was looking to help them with some of it. I got in these caves a little ways and got cut off by the four-armed folk, like this fellow." and he points at Vald. He gives him a deeper look up and down like he is just seeing him for the first time. They took me to the king bastard spider and then threw me on that island about a week ago. Said they needed to decide what to do with me, but never came back except to throw me some moldy mushrooms." Vald breaks his gaze and steps away.

"What do you do?" Nowhere continues.

"I'm a prospector by trade. If i find gold or gems, I'm a miner."

"Well Clinker, we have a dangerous mission to get to the lower level in this place and try to find the source of evil power that's driving the spider-folk crazy. Do you want to come with us, or head back on your own?" Nowhere asks.

"I'll throw in with you gals and fellas for a bit if you'll have me, if I get me a share of anything we find fair and square." Clinker replies.

"Great." Nowhere responds, and handshakes are exchanged with the group.

Vald returns. "We have a problem. The entrance to the lower levels where Caullum went is below is just around the next bend. We have to go through the cavern under Habernia, and we may be spotted. Then we have to get down a 50' wall."

The team consults for a moment and decides to shuttle two at a time over to the next cavern. Then, using their magic rope, they can descend. Nowhere, with her gloom-stalker ability is nearly invisible in darkness, only the infrequent flashes of light from somewhere above giving any chance of being seen, but their plan works. Two by two they don the elven cloaks they took from the drow and make their way below the massive city of the chitine and down the escarpment to the floor of another massive cave.

"Even if I had the word, I would not give it to a stranger. Callaum lives and does not need your interference. He will return and bring us to glory! I am the guardian of the key to the word - he left this responsibility with me."

It is clear to the party that Garlome is a fanatic and not persuadable, so Seraphina uses her wand of "???????" and charms the chitine into believing them friends.

"Garlome, it is me, your friend Seraphina."

"Oh it is good to see you Serahina." Garlome responds.

"Can you tell me where the key opens?" she replies.

"I know it is on the upper level, but don't know where exactly. He just said it was in a room of mists." Garlome reveals.

The party glances at each other, knowing that they passed a locked door in the first room of the complex. A room filled with mists and trapped doors. Orryn makes his way stealthily around to behind Garlome.

"Will you lend me the key Garlome? I will bring it back." Seraphina asks.

"I don't know if Caullum would like that, he might be mad, he left it with me."

Orryn knows that this magical friendship might wear off before they return, even if they can convince Garlome to lend them the key. The risk of alarm is too great. He attacks from behind, leaping up on the chitine and cutting his throat. With a short gush of blood the chitine dies and they take the key.

Back up through the caves, shuttling across with their magic cloaks, and after a long trek up the massive spiral stair, the group arrives at the room of mists. They avoid the traps and proceed to the locked door which the key indeed opens. Inside, a glimmering blue light lines the stone tiles covering the chamber. The chamber is empty, but narrows into a ten-foot-wide aperture to the east, beyond which is darkness. Bold runes are inscribed above this opening.

Immeral casts a Comprehend Languages spell and reads the text. "Let the Respectful Enter Here."

Misunderstanding the phrase, Atlas goes first and nearly loses his head as a blade trap springs from the wall and cuts him in the face. He should have had his head lowered in respect. Aware of the trap, Orryn disarms it and the rest proceed into the chamber beyond.

Before long they are back in the cave before the door to the lower levels, Garlome's body undisturbed. Immeral speaks the word "Pyorrhea" and the door opens with the rasp of metal against stone.

Beyond the door is a long corridor which opens to a room dimly lit by a strange radiance swirling across the floor, walls and ceiling like a thin layer of dandelion seeds blowing in the wind. The large chamber is tiled in pale, red stone, and though the light the radiance provides is dim, it is sufficient to reveal the forms of several creatures in savage confrontation.

The party stays back and lets the creatures battle until half their number are dead and the remaining for spread apart to lick their wounds. At first they appear to be the axe-beaked birds that the party has fought before, but these seem transformed to a more reptilian state. The party rushes in to attack, but the raptors prove more powerful than anticipated and avoid several of the attacks. Quickly though, the party is triumphant and they put the reptiles down.

At the end of the fight, Seraphina steps onto a trap which opens a pit in the floor and she starts toppling in. Luckily K'ronk is fast to act with a Feather Fall spell, and Seraphina gracefully slides between the spikes on the floor without harm.

The party is growing tired, but this room does not appear to be the safest place to rest, so they try a door to the left. Loose soil covers the floor of this chamber, and steep mounds of earth block most of the walls. Only the ceiling remains completely bare of earth, and the witchlight it provides is only sufficient to create a pervasive dimness. Two stone doors stand in the southern wall, and from around their edges, bright flashes of light glint at irregular intervals.

They step into the room and the dirt starts moving, and from out of the soft earth, four ghouls appear. The League quickly springs into action and fights the stinking undead. The ghouls are tough though, but everyone joins the fray to put down the monsters. Surprisingly, Clinker pulls out a couple of daggers hidden in his boots and he dives into the fray with a scathing double-dagger attack that kills one of the creatures. The other characters battle the other but Clinker deals the death blow to that one as well.

The group decides not to venture on, and a room of dirt and dead ghouls does not seem like the best place to bed down, so they return to the entrance hall and bed down overnight, taking turns guarding the hallway.

TO BE CONTINUED