EPISODE 66: The Trial of Champions II - The Hidden Shrine of the Kyuss

Juliar 16, 754 YE

EKAYM’S SECRET

Since the Rosegate Company is fighting in the MONSTER MASH round tomorrow, they will not be fighting in the tournament at all today. They learn that some people are disappointed that Auric’s Warband will not be fighting in the big monster round, as it is customary for last tournament’s champions to do so. Could there be some behind-the-scene shenanigans (like Raknian influencing last minute rules changes, trying to get the Rosegate Company eliminated)?

At lunch time, their manager Ekaym visits them. He confesses that he has his own motives for working with Dorzan and the other guilders against Raknian. It is not because he is particularly opposed to Republican politics, but rather he holds a special enmity towards Raknian. He says that his sister EMMALYN was a dancer who worked with one of the dancing companies at the previous Trial of Champions. It seems that she fell completely in love with Raknian and expected to marry him... but she disappeared and was never heard from again. Ekaym lacks evidence, but he is sure that Raknian – known as a hardcore womanizer -- must have murdered her despite Emmalyn’s assurances that their love was real and mutual.

Ekaym requests that since they are supposed to dig up sketchy details about Raknian ANYWAY, it would be great if they could see if they can find out any word about Emmalyn as well. He suspects she is dead, but he wants to know for sure. Divination spells have been no help to him.

At the same time, they instruct Ekaym to find out as much as possible about the froghemoth in tomorrow’s monster fight, so they can learn its weaknesses and get an edge.

The companions start investigating. Vatex and Early ask around for dancers who knew Emmalyn four years ago, and find a big fat exotic dancer from Shapeir named BURGA. She is nasty, and she thinks Early is a total hunk. She remembers Emmalyn and says that she was in love with some old war veteran or something... that’s Raknian! The name rings a bell, and Burga says, “Oh yeah, that guy!” She says he is also a hunk who killed some ghouls or something and now rules the city of Elan, and as far as she knows their relationship was “true love.” Burga tries to seduce Early, who repels her advances by making up a story about his dink being cut off during the Zeltennian War.

Meanwhile, Emeris and Dziga use Extreme Stealth and Shade Invisibility powers to infiltrate past the soldier barracks and into the arena understructure, where they are not supposed to be! If they are discovered, their team will probably get disqualified from the tournament so they must be careful. They go undetected, but the only thing of interest that they find is the top of a huge weird weird... dome or something, made of opaque black, rubbery material, directly under the center of the arena. They assume it must be the “container” used to hold the froghemoth.

Vatex and Early ask around about Raknian and the ghouls. After speaking with a couple of soldiers, they learn that when it came time to clear out the understructure and Coenoby for this year’s tournament, a horde of ghouls was discovered that had emerged from a big cave under the arena called “the Giant’s House”. Supposedly Raknian heroically fought off all the ghouls single-handedly and drove them back into their hole. Soldiers then blocked the cave from which they’d emerged with a giant stone plug. Apparently this whole incident has spawned some rumors among Raknian-haters, such as, “Raknian’s friends are ghouls,” “Raknian used ghouls to help take over Dalengard,” “Raknian has friends in undead cults, who specialize in ghouls,” and “Raknian IS a ghoul.” And stuff like that. Other people just think it’s awesome that he killed like 100 ghouls.

Early and Vatex bribe their way through some crooked guards in the understructure and meet up with Emeris and Dziga. It seems there might be “more than meets the eye” with this whole ghoul story, so they decide to head down to the caverns underneath the arena and find the Giant’s House.

Adjacent to the understructure, one level down, there is a little underground village kinda-thing where some arena and Dalengard staff live. Heading past this down a long tunnel brings the companions to the Giant’s House – whatever structures were once here have been destroyed by a cave-in quite some time ago.

GHOUL CREW

They look around and find the stone plug. It’s too heavy and big to move it, so Vatex pulverizes it to bits with MJOLNIR!, the hammer of the so-called “Hammer God” that he’s been lugging around. If the ghouls get out, oh well.

Beyond is a cave that smells like death and decay. Nine ghouls attack! The Rosegate Company slaughters them in seconds. There are a few connecting passages – Dziga sends his shadow companion down a small, downward sloping passage. The shadow reports that there must be a couple hundred ghouls milling about in the cave at the bottom. The companions really don’t care much about the ghouls, so they explore the passage to the west.

They travel down a narrow, winding cavern that follows an underground stream. After an hour or so, they find that the stream empties in a foul-smelling grotto of slimy, shallow water, in which chunks of garbage floats about. Looking around, they find that there is a hole in the cave’s ceiling, from which garbage and waste seems to get dumped. It’s hard to judge their position relative to the city above... Dziga sends his shadow companion up into the hole to scout.

The shadow goes down the hallway and into a room with three wooden coffins. The incorporeal undead peeks its head into the coffins and sees they contain disgustingly foul rotten corpses ridden with numerous plump, green worms. Down the hallway, the shadow sees a ruby-red light shining through the darkness... which then seems to retreat down a passage to the north. The shadow investigates, and finds a room with an old, broken-down machine inside. Its nature is unclear, but there is no sign of the moving red light.

But then the shadow hears wood being smashed – the worm-ridden corpses are waking up! The shadow retreats back down the corridors, then down the garbage hole into the grotto. Dziga relays the information produces by this scouting mission.

SPAWN OF KYUSS

“Green worms? Undead???” Early ponders this for a moment, his mind drifting back to the fragments of his father’s journal... He’d read about how Jakter had fought a cult called the Black Triad, who was somehow aligned with agents of Kyuss, and was creating worm-ridden undead monsters. There must be a connection! The warblade wants to get a worm specimen for himself.

Early tells the others to wait for him, and uses a grappling hook to climb up the shit hole into the complex above. He encounters the undead and confirms that they are indeed the “spawn of Kyuss” mentioned in Jakter’s journal – well-rotted zombies with green worms writhing in and out of their skull orifices. Cryssaegrym pulses with rage and Early attacks. He executes a Wolf Blitz / Raging Mongoose attack with Cryssaegrym and Sheol and hacks the first two into bloody-wormy chunks. The third spits wiggling worms at him from the other side of the room. As a worm lands on his left arm and begins burrowing into his flesh, he cuts down the last Kyuss spawn.


When he turns his attention to the Kyuss worm, he realizes it has already chewed through his flesh and is burrowing through his arm! It’s heading towards his brain, and if it gets there and devours his brain, Early too will become a spawn of Kyuss – the ultimate irony. He tries to cut the worm out but he cannot get it – so he resorts to a desperate measure...

He pulls off his left armor pauldron, grabs Sheol in his right hand, and HACKS OFF HIS OWN LEFT ARM!!

He drinks a healing potion to stop the bleeding. When the worm emerges from the bloody stump of his dismembered limb, he grabs it and jams it into the empty potion vial.

The others are a little surprised when they see Early return with his severed arm. They’ll need strong clerical magic to reattach the limb, so they will have to head back to town... but first Dziga wants to check out the old machine his shadow had come across. Who knows, might be interesting.

Dziga climbs up the garbage hole with the one-armed Early tagging along to see if his engineering knowledge will be helpful. As they head to the machine, the shadow companion scouts ahead to the east. It finds what seems to be an old training room of some kind, but instead of training people, it contains six undead monsters – 3 morhgs, and 3 more Kyuss spawn. They see the shadow fly around the room and begin to chase it back towards the other companions...

The machine is clearly not operational, and Early doesn’t know what the heck it’s supposed to do. Dziga finds he can actually open up a panel and climb inside. He tries to squeeze into a 2-foot wide pipe that goes up from the interior of the machine into the wall, and finds that the tight passage is blocked by... the same opaque, rubbery material that composed the dome-like thing in the arena understructure. Is this just another part of one huge object? If so, the froghemoth must be enormous!

The shadow returns, warning of approaching undead. Dziga vanishes into shadow and Early some of the big machine pipes as three spawn and a morhg enter the chamber.

Vatex, having put a telepathic link on Dziga earlier, is informed of the undead assault and he begins climbing up the rope to the shit hole above. Emeris teleports to the top, gathering shadow power around his hands as two more morhgs scamper down the hallway towards him. There are gaunt, skeletal creatures, and where their viscera would be, there are instead thick green worms with toothy maws.

The morhg charges and its guts-worms lash out at Emeris – upon their touch, he can feel his nervous system begin to shutdown, but he resists the effect with his shadowy nature. He blasts with umbral energy and Vatex hoists himself up the room through the garbage hole, and tumbles past the shade to flank the morhg. His swords snap free of their scabbards and a blistering array of attacks brings down the nasty undead as the third mohrg charges down the hall.

In the machine room, the undead spot Early’s boot poking out from his hiding spot, and his position is revealed. Before the undead attack, Dziga appears from the shadows and sneak attacks them! His assault destroys one spawn, but before he can finish the other, the mohrg’s paralyzing worm strike leaves him helpless. Early attacks, swinging Cryssaegrym with his one arm, hacking to bits the last two spawn of Kyuss and rushing to Dziga’s aid. The helpless rogue can do nothing as the morhg’s raises a clawed hand and attempts to deliver a coup-de-grace! Dziga survives, barely, with blood exploding from his neck. Early hacks apart the morhg then feeds his friend a potion that cures paralysis.

Vatex and Emeris make short work of the final mohrg, hacking it with Wind Duke swords and blasting it with umbral rays. It seems they have achieved victory... until they see a single red light appear in the darkness of the corridor to the east.

RUBY-EYE

There stands some kind of infernal outsider, known as SAYGRAAM THE FACELESS aka RUBY-EYE. His true nature is a mystery even to hardcore scholars of the lower planes. “You should not have come here,” he says in a deep voice. He is a tall humanoid with long, lanky arms, dressed in a heavy brown cloak. His hands and legs are wrapped thickly in bandages, almost like a mummy. Beneath the cowl of his cloak, they see a plain mask of stone bone-colored stone. Ruby-red light shines from the left eye-slit.


Emeris fires a ray of umbral energy at the outsider but Saygraam raises a hand and blocks it with his spell resistance. Vatex fires his rifle, empowered with lawful magic, and hits the outsider with a sound like grinding metal and breaking glass. Saygraam’s red eye flashes and a volley of red energy bolts slam into Vatex, knocking him back a few steps. Emeris conjures up the Shadowgeist Reaver from his right hand and rushes Saygraam. The incorporeal blade passes right through Saygraam and draws some of his strength into Emeris, proving Ruby-Eye is alive and not a mummy.

Weakened ever so slightly, Saygraam backs up, calling his next attack, “Sodom Sword Maelstrom.”

A circle of gleaming force blades rise from the floor around Emeris, flashing and slashing at him in a dizzying flurry. Emeris dodges most of the attack, but takes a few hits. He is ready to taunt Saygraam with something like, “Is that all you’ve got?” when another circle of force blades appears and slashes around him.... then another! Emeris avoids serious injury, but is covered in a hundred minor slashing wounds. He hears Dziga and Early coming down the hallway to his aid, and Vatex closing in from behind.

Emeris wipes blood from his eyes and gathers shadowy power within until he feels like his body will explode. He metamagics his Killing Shadows with Maximize and Empower and unleashes a cone of destruction upon Saygraam. Deep grooves are blasted into the walls and floor and the hallway fills with choking clouds of dust and debris. He squints into the dust and smoke, trying to see the outcome of his attack... did that do it?

He receives an answer when the red-light of Saygraam's glowing eye becomes visible as the cloud of dust thins a bit. Emeris teleports away to the garbage hole room as Saygraam's next attack would be expected to kill him.

Crazy techno fighting music starts to play and everyone gets totally pumped. Vatex closes in. The graceful, speedy elf lunges towards the strange infernal outsider -- he leads with a slash from the Sword of Aqaa, but Saygraam is not chaotic so it doesn't do extra damage. So Vatex triggers his skirmish vest and swings the Storm Sword which connects with a blast of electricity -- then the elf triggers the twin swords' windstorm effect which hits Ruby-Eye with electricity and sonic damage. Each slash yields a burst of choking dust from Saygraam's wounds. The masked outsider smashes him in the face with a bandaged fist that strikes like a sledgehammer.

Dziga and Early rush down the hall. The Impossibility Cube begins bouncing around in Dziga's pack and empowers Dziga with the power of the VOID. There is hardly any room to fight in the narrow hallway. Dziga pulls out Asura and flips and dives over Vatex and past Saygraam. Saygraam's right arm extends suddenly as he does, knocking the wind out of him... but the rogue acrobatically recovers and rolls under the next attack to flank! Saygraam is baffled by the rogue's agility and caught flat-footed! Dziga drives Asura into Saygraam's back and the enigmatic outsider howls in pain -- at the moment of impact, Dziga activates the chaos cube -- "PSYCHIC DISSOLUTION STRIKE!" Chaotic energy swirls through the piercing dagger and into the infernal outsider, assaulting is mind. Saygraam pushes back Vatex then pivots to face Dziga. The ruby-eyed gaze settled on him... "Ruby Eye Ray!"

A flash of red signals the firing of four scorching red rays that arc towards the rogue at point blank range. Dziga's body is blasted by the impact and he crumples to the floor unconscious... Vatex and Early prepare to dish out some revenge but Ruby-Eye uses his quickened spell-like ability to teleports out of there.

The group quickly tends to Dziga's wounds and gets everyone back in top shape. Saygraam is badly wounded -- they must pursue and finish him quickly!

BATTLE AT THE ALTAR OF BOZAL ZAHOL

Past the former training room and through the north door, they again face Saygraam the Faceless. Even though they saw him only a few minutes ago, he has fully healed already.

Dziga materializes from shadows and fires an arrow from Roguefriend. Emeris blasts another umbral ray. Saygraam laughs and shrugs off these attacks, and unleashes another Ruby Eye Ray attack that hits everyone in the group, then he teleports away again. Curse him!

Ahead are a set of double-doors and the group barges through them into an altar room. There, Saygraam stands in the far corner with arm crossed over his chest. In the middle of the room is a tiefling priest named BOZAL ZAHOL. This fiendish looking dude is quite hideous, but most interestingly he bears a very distinctive symbol on his chest. The symbol depicts a laughing skull erupting with worms.

The sign of Kyuss, the Worm that Walks!

On the altar, there is a big old scroll rolled out. An aura of green energy surrounds the scroll, which generates a writhing beam of green energy that strikes the western double doors.

On the opposite side from Saygraam, there is a big glass-tube filled with swirling gas and sparkly pinpricks of energy. Suspended inside is a floating woman -- seemingly alive, but with a blank look in her eyes. Her appearance seems to match the physical description of Ekaym's sister, Emmalyn.

The priest is not happy to see them. “Raknian has betrayed us, Saygraam!”

“That is impossible,” replies the infernal outsider matter-of-factly.

“But he is one of the only people who know we are here! He MUST have sent them!”

“The contract made with the human called 'Loris Raknian' was sealed with the Pledge Stone. He cannot be responsible for attack.”

“Oh that’s right. Then who the hell are these guys?” Bozal seemingly expects Saygraam to know the answer.

The infernal outsider says nothing in response. Nothing in the outsider's voice or body language suggests the least worry though.

Early breaks up the dialogue, stepping forth and holding up Cryssaegrym in his one arm. “Does this look familiar, wormfags?”

Bozal’s eyes widen with shock. “NO! It’s the Sword With the Wolf-Shaped Hilt – the Silver Blade... Cryssaegrym!”

Saygraam's body goes visibly stiff and the gravity of the encounter finally resonates with him. This... crazy one-armed guy is the wielder of the Silver Wolf's katana? And these are his crazy friends? Crazy techno music starts playing again and everyone gets totally pumped.

Dziga's haste boots flare with energy and he slips into shadow and rushes the cleric. Before he can get close Dziga slams into an invisible wall of force protecting the cleric. Emeris can see Bozal getting ready to cast deadly magic, but the rushes into the room, taking control of Bozal's own shadow. The shadow of the cleric animates and bends to embrace the physical body of the tiefling. Its clasp holds him fast -- totally helpless but still protected in his force field.

Back in the corner, Saygraam speaks: "Gomorrah Vile Burst."

Wicked black energy erupts from the ground between Vatex and Early, blasting them. Vatex advances along the east wall, casting a spell to give him the perfect shot of his rifle. Early moves out of the blast also and attempts to Swooping Dragon Strike the cleric -- but he finds that he too is blocked by the force field. Dziga curses and sends the shadow upon the force field -- will incorporeal undead be blocked? The answer is no -- the shadow starts draining away the paralyzed cleric's strength while Bozal struggles to shake off his own shadow with his willpower. The effect is an anti-life shell -- which tells Dziga that he can SHOOT ARROWS even if he cannot stab him face to face.

Bozal's sudden burst of will returns his shadow to its normal position, and he starts to fall back towards Saygraam. The hasted Dziga uses all his strength to stay within the shadows while he fires a volley of arrows at Bozal from 15-feet away. From that ineffable space between light and shadow, Dziga's precision is flawless. Two shots take off Bozal's left arm and right leg, and a third and fourth nail him in the forehead before the torso hits the ground.

Emeris turns to Saygraam and tries to drain his willpower with shadow magic, but is blocked by spell resistance. Vatex fires several rounds from his rifle at Saygraam but the Saygraam blasts the entire team with his next attack, "Gethsemane Dark Wave."

Black energy engulfs them, and Early and Vatex get stunned by the evil supernatural attack because they are not evil themselves. Dziga and Emeris stand this effect, being evil and all, and continue their assault. Dziga tries to fill Saygraam with arrows, but the outsider's vision is just too good and he defies being sneak attacked. Emeris attacks with another supernatural killing shadows attack, which batters Saygraam but the oustsider strikes back, trying to stop Emeris with his paralyzing slams.

Vatex and Early recover. They fire Tri-Elemental Magnum and rifle rounds. Although the attacks do not bring down the tough opponent, he is clearly hard pressed, and seems to realize it.

"No matter, you cannot stop stop the ritual," Saygraam Ruby-Eye says. "And you have not faced the last of my allies... There is still the Visage of Kyuss" And with another blast of red energy bolts, he teleports away.

THE VISAGE OF KYUSS

They waste no time heading into the western door where the scroll energy is flowing. Beyond they find a chamber that is blocked off by... the strange opaque barrier. If Saygraam went that way, they can't follow, so they check out the north door. This takes them thrugh Bozol's room and into a small room with another chamber that is partly curtained off.

The Rosegate Company doesn't like curtains.

But before they can do much about it, a big ooze-like demon called an alkilith, the so-called "Visage of Kyuss", blasts Early with a cone of cold from behind the curtain.



Everyone takes action. Dziga fires arrows at the ooze while activating his Death Strike Bracers. The alkilith roars in pain and immediately summons a hezrou demon for back-up. The big toad-like demon grapples Early while the one-armed warblade tries to attack him. Vatex rushes the demon-ooze with blades spinning, sonic and electric and lawful energy flaring around him. Acidic blood sprays all over the room. Emeris teleports to flank to the other side of the ooze and slashes with the Reaver. The alkilith is dazed and drained of energy and strength. Dziga's shadow companion attacks the ooze and drains it of even more strength.

Early cannot break free. The unbelievable stench of the the hezrou causes him to start choking on his own puke while he gets squeezed to death. Dziga fires arrows at the hezrou but can't hit a weak spot. The hezrou throws the puking Early to the ground and tries to snap off the rogue's head with his bite. Dziga backpedals and draws the shadows around him, firing more arrows. The hezrou goes down and Dziga fires his last shot at the alkilith.

Saygraam teleports into the battle. He hits Dziga with a blast of energy bolts and then unleashes another Ruby Eye Ray attack at Emeris and Vatex, hoping to take some pressure off of the ooze-demon.

Emeris keeps plunging the Shadowgeist Reaver into the alkilith, stunlocking it and draining its power while Vatex enters his Xerani Dervish Dance. The elf spins and weaves in pursuit of Saygraam, who dashes down the hall. The outsider does a hard karate chop into Vatex's side as he closes in, but the elf is not slowed. He becomes a veritable tempest of slashing fury, the corridor being filled with fierce winds and lightning blasts. Crunchy bits particles burst from the wounds instead of blood. Fetid dust billows from the cuts, choking Vatex but he maintains the ferocity of his dancing attack. Saygraam has met his match and falls back towards the door, trying to teleport to safety and retreat for good -- Vatex tries to take his head off with a final desperate attack, but it is not enough. Saygraam activates his teleport and escapes, cursing them and averring that though he is defeated, they have accomplished nothing.

The party then proceeds to gang-beat the ooze-demon, yielding a shower of slimy chunks and acid blood. Emeris finishes it off with the Shadowgeist Reaver -- the fatal strike causes the demon's soul to be absorbed into the spectral blade. VICTORY!!!!

TIME TO LOOT

They don't find a lot of valuable treasure in hidden shrine, but they do recover a few interesting things in Bozal's chamber -- a journal apparently penned by the tiefling cleric and three stoppered bottles containing green worms in stasis.

Before they leave, they need to consider the scroll of Bozal's altar. Will they take it? Can they touch it without having something terrible happen? Is it connected to the ritual mentioned by Saygraam Ruby-Eye? Then there is the question of the woman who might be Emmalyn -- how can they get her out? How does she fit into this connection between Raknian and the worshippers of Kyuss? And will they get back to the arena in time for the monster mash round without getting disqualified? FIND OUT NEXT TIME!

EPISODE 65: The Trial of Champions I - Battle Royale

Maya 8 - Juliar 15, 754 YE

REPUBLICAN SUMMER

During the first month of the new Republican government of Elan, political a lot of dissidents, Guilders, and reporters are arrested for being overtly unfriendly to the new regime. Otherwise, most people who dislike the current political climate "go along to get along." Most pro-Empire people keep a low profile, holding on to the hope that either a) Tairon will send an army to take back the city, or b) the Holy Emperor himself will appear to smite Raknian and his friends.

Aoska, the celestial member of the City Council, is permitted to resign while the other council members must swear allegiance to the new government or be executed for treason. Raknian doesn't want to mess with certain factions in the city and only targets his most provocative and brazen challengers.

The new Constitution of Elan basically takes all citizen rights away ("You have universal eternal rights, unless the government finds it more convenient to deny them"), actually making it worse than the Holy Empire's Vast Codex which despite its flaws accepted that citizens had private property rights. New taxes are implemented, including a 50% tax on adventurers and a 50% tax on Guilders' profits and capital gains.

Organizations such as the Shuul and the Holy Order of Vigoor are put on "terrorist watch lists" and their public activities greatly limited.

Despite promises to "immediately" correct high prices, there really isn't much Raknian's government can do. The Central Banking Council in Tairon is using their wizards to inflate. i.e. fabricating gold, there supply & demand imbalances persist. The Republican price controls and minimum wage laws aggravate huge shortages and unemployment.

But despite how shitty things are overall, many fools and mooches have convinced themselves that Raknian is awesome and will eventually fix everything.

The Rosegate Company -- Dziga, Early, Emeris, and Vatex -- wonders if they are on the Republican's "hit list" due to their cooperation with the prosecution of Helmut Itlstein. So far, though, no sign of retribution...

Financially, the government is not good. When they took over, they discovered that the Commissar had left the treasury virtually empty. This would make it hard to set up all kinds of expensive Republican social programs. In an effort to raise money quickly, the Trial of Champions will held this summer, instead of next year. Tourists and would-be gladiators start filling the city in preparation for the event...

GONNA NEED A MONTAGE

The Rosegate Company reaches a consensus that they too will enter the Trial of Champions as a gladiator team. They begin doing training montages to prepare.

Between training sessions, Vatex investigates the Republicans, trying to find out who Raknian and the Republicans' allies are. He learns that unlike the former Republican leader, Helmut Itlstein, Raknian -- a well-known veteran of the Zeltennian War -- has more than just the Vai as unsavory alliances. Turns out he is supported by the Balacazars, who now basically run the entire City Watch. This gives them a huge advantage over the crime organizations of Aggah-Shan and Kevis Killraven. The Republicans also have connections to the Vai, left over from Helmut's days.

There are also rumors about the so-called "Rebel Four" who is supposedly the Republicans chief benefactor. But no one seems to know what Rebel Four is -- some say it is a shadowy group of wealthy Elanian nationalistists, others say it is an old dwarf wizard, others say it is some kind of dark cult. Others still say "Rebel Four" is/are one or more alien invaders from outer space, like an X-Files sorta thing.

Eventually the group tries to register and discovers that in order to be entered as gladiators in the Trial, they need to get a licensed sponsor, who needs to be on the Trial of Champions Executive Committee. They ask around but it seems most sponsors have sponsored gladiators already.

Concurrently, the companions 'negotiate' with Gareth Porter, the reporter who'd been rescued from the Dark Reliquary, to have him publish a new broadsheet painting the Rosegate Company as "totally awesome" and improve their public image.

Then they receive a message from the capitalist Dorzan. When they meet with him, he talks about the worries the Guilders have with the new government and its heavy taxes and regulation. He says they collectively hope the more business-friendly Holy Empire will take over the city again, or all the Guilders will take their capital elsewhere.

Dorzan says he knows a guy on the Trial Executive Committee who can sponsor them, but he will want a favor in return.

So they meet this guy, a human bard named EKAYM, and his associate CELESTE, an aasimar rogue, at an inn called the Crooked House. Ekaym reveals that he is a member of the secretive trades guild called "The Chisel", and they are trying to attack Raknian's legitimacy and turn popular opinion against them.

He says that in exchange for sponsoring them to get into the Trial, he asks that they investigate throughout the event and try to find anything about Raknian that can help him, including a) find who is loyal and not-so-loyal, b) find evidence that will make people turn against him.

At first Ekaym says he wants to take 50% of the 100K gold prize for the champions... but Emeris uses some bluffing and diplomacy to convince him to take only 30%. That will leave 75,000 gold plus a flashy Champions' Belt for the Rosegate Company to share.

The companions return to their training montage for the next month or so... they will show the city of Elan a tournament they will never forget!

THE FREE DINNER

It is a hot Juliar in Elan as the Trial of Champions approaches. On the 14th, the day before the Trial begins, there is a big event called "the Free Dinner" where all the gladiators, their managers, the executive committee, the press, and special guests all eat a lavish feast and mingle. The Rosegate Company attends this with Ekaym.

There are 25 teams in the tournament this year, including the previous champions, Auric's Warband, consisting of the fighter Auric, the wizard KHELLE, the rogue TIRRA, and three stone golems. Vatex and Early had coincidentally met Auric, the team leader, in Diamond Lake during an unrelated adventure. Vatex and Early publicly denounce Auric as a wimp who was too cowardly to fight the black dragon Ilthane. This earns Auric's ire and he swears to humiliate them in the final round -- if they make it that far.

Emeris looks around for some all-female gladiator groups and maybe arrange some kind of orgy. There are only two such groups, the Pretty Girl Squad, which appears to be three underrage girls who have no business in such a tournament, and Arcane Auriga, which consists of five elven archer babes, exiles from the elven court of Selene. Emeris flexes his charming personality, but discovers Arcane Auriga seem to be all lesbians. Even so, they find Emeris rather likeable and say that if they fight in the battle royale, they should team-up until the end.

Vatex notices Raknian watching them. No doubt the Republican leader recognizes them and knows that they were largely responsible for the death of Helmut Itlstein. Ekaym suggests that Raknian may do something that interferes with their participation in the tournament somehow.

The schedule for the tournament is revealed. The first day will consist of battle royales where groups of 4 or 5 teams have a big free-for-all. Days 2-4 will consist of team vs. team battles and monster vs. team battles. Day 5 will have the best performing team face-off against last year's champs.

INTO THE COENOBY

After the event, the Rosegate Company retires to their quarters beneath the arena in the Coenoby -- a converted part of Ghul's Labyrinth. It's quite comfortable, but full of activity -- it might be hard to sneak around tonight and investigate Raknian.

Before sleep, they are visited by Tirra from Auric's Warband. Vatex's rich local knowledge suggest she is a member of the Longfingers' Thieves Guild. She proposes her "friends" would like to place a special bet that if the Rosegate Company makes it to the finale, they will defeat Auric and his team. The company declines.

Then they are visited again, but RENNIDA the leader of Arcane Auriga. She says that they are in the same battle royale tomorrow, and proposes teaming up against a team called Badlands' Revenge. They agree to do so before starting to hack up each other.

BATTLE ROYALE

The first event takes place at 10:00 am and puts the Rosegate Company in a battle royale with the following:

Arcane Auriga:
> Rennida the elven archer mage.
> Her four archer companions

Badlands Revenge
> Joren, the human druid who wears plate mail forged of dragon scales.
> His animal companion, Scriminiduro, the dire badger
> His four gnoll halberdier mercenaries

Pretty Girl Squad
> Mio, tiny pink-haired girl who carries a stuffed rabbit and looks harmless
> Setsuna, hand-to-hand fighter with lightning-speed
> Kunichiko, golden haired girl who uses magical fragrances

Sapphire Squad
> Korush, a janni swashbuckler
> His team of three mercenaries, who ride war horses and fight with long spears and bows and scimitars.

The battle begins! Setsuna yells out "Speed Drive: Hawkeye!" and moves through the air so quickly she might as well be invisible, then systematically attacks every single combatant in the arena in the space of five seconds. She then reappears with her group. Impossible speed! This attack has left most other combatants dazed, and Mio begins skipping over to the elven archers. She is charged by the only undazed Sapphire Squad merc, whom she dodges easily. Kunichiko uses her magic fragrances to dominate the mind of the merc and add a new ally to their team.

With the elves dazed except for Rennida, the Rosegate Company attacks Badlands' Revenge on their own. Emeris fires two umbral rays that slays one of the gnolls. Joren takes a hit from Dziga's bow then he and his badger rush the advancing Early. The warblade skilfully dodges the druid's spear but takes a cut from the badger's claw. Rennida recovers from being dazed and hits Joren in the back with an acid arrow. Early uses Soaring Dragon Strike to hit the druid, leaving him bloody and stunned. Vatex seizes the opportunity to thrust his swords into the narrow gaps in Joren's dragon armor and kill him. At this point, the surviving gnolls surrender, but the badger keeps fighting. Early uses his Raging Mongoose Wolf Blitz attack against the badger and explodes it in a gruesome display of overkill.

Meanwhile, Mio continues towards the elves who have regained their senses. They fire arrows at her but she is very quick, and it seems her little dress gives her some level of armor. A second mounted merc from Sapphire Squad charges her, but she easily dodges again. Annoyed, she runs after the merc and swings her rabbit. "Mega Punch!!!!!" The rabbit hits the rider and literally blows him to pieces, leaving a big wet splatter of gore on the arena wall. She and the dominated rider continue towards the elves, who continue firing. Rennida powers up and create two mirror images around herself.

Setsuna yells "Speed Drive: Black Bird!" and hits the third rider with a spring attack, using her airwalk power to spring back into the air. The attack leaves the mounted merc blind! He hangs on as his horse runs around the arena periphery for a half a minute before surrendering. Korush, able to fly, rushdes her in the air with his scimitar. She is impossibly fast and he may as well have been trying to stab a flying mosquito with a toothpick. She hits back at Korush when Dziga hits her with an arrow. Emeris fires umbral rays at her but she is too quick, and retreats without taking further hits. Kunichiko whispers "Maiden Temptation!" which paralyzes Rennida as Mio closes in.

The little pink haired girl swings her rabbit and explodes one of the elf women with another Mega Punch. They try to fill the little girl with arrows but she is ridiculously tough and quick.

The gaze of Korush meets Vatex and they silently agree to duel. Early and Emeris go after Kunichiko while Dziga heads towards the main melee between Pretty Girl Squad and Arcane Auriga.

Korush fights gracefully with his scimitar, his defenses capable and his speed impressive. As Vatex spins to the right, Korush's magical sword cuts deeply into his back, and a follow-up slash should have cut him across the neck had Vatex's magical cloak not shifted him at the last moment. Vatex sneers and turns up the pressure, the speed of his dancing swords accelerating to the point where Korush can no longer keep up with his deft parries. Blades flash and various cuts open in Korush's flesh. Two more downward chops take off both the janni's arms. A final blow takes off his head.

Early hacks at Kunchiko and hears her whisper "Temptation Garden", which causes him to reconsider his desire to attack her. Emeris teleports behind the golden-aired pretty girl, trying to strike her down with the Shadowgeist Reaver. She dodges easily. She then retreats while she whispers "Marlboro Cloud" and and big acid fog appears around Early. The fog feels like molasses and in addition to burning his flesh and lungs, it is painfully slow to move through it.

The dominated rider merc attacks some elves with his scimitar. Mio Mega Punches another elf. Setsuna darts in with hit-n-run attacks. Dziga continues firing arrows at Setsuna but she is very tough to hit. Another Speed Drive: Black Bird attack leaves a bunch of elves dazed, but she takes another of Dziga's arrow which wounds her badly. Emeris teleports in that direction to support Dziga and the elves, then unleashes maximized Killing Shadows upon the group.

The blast engulfs all the combatants, and when it clears, Setsuna, the dominated rider, and all the elves are dead. Seeing so many gladiators wiped out with a single attack sends the crowd into a big cheer. Mio is very sad when Setsuna dies and charges Emeris, swinging her rabbit and yelling "Polymorph Rabbit!" The attack hits the shade and staggers him a bit, but worse than that he feels his body begin to change! Probably into a kitten or some other cute critter. He resists it and hits her back with the Reaver. Seeing her near death and in tears, he tells her to surrender, and when it seems she intends to do so, he teleports to cut off Kunichiko. He hears a gunshot and sees Vatex kill Mio with a shot from his rifle.

Early breaks through the acid cloud and then is hit with the Maiden Temptation attack, paralyzing him. Kunichiko Marlboro Clouds Emeris and Vatex as they close in on her from the other side. Dziga tries to shoot her down with arrows and scores a few hits, but she is tougher than her girlish appearance would suggest and she continues to resist. She targets Early with a Crown Marionette attack, bringing the warblade under her control.

The Rosegate Company chases Kunichiko around the arena for a few moments, while the dominated Early chases her companions. She slows them down with her Marlboro Fog and Maiden Temptation attacks, and killing her becomes an extreme annoyance. However, she understands that while she might be able to draw this out for a long time, she cannot win without her allies. She surrenders.

The crowd goes crazy! They chant "Rosegate! Rosegate!", clearly impressed by the Rosegate Company's incredible power. They are awarded a small bag of gold and a bronze trophy of a dwarf warrior for their Day 1 victory.

After the battle, the Rosegate Company learns that they have been randomly selected for the "Monster Mash" event where they fight a giant powerful monster on Day 3. They learn that this year's giant monster is an especially big and powerful froghemoth, a big and rare aberration. Since they will not be fighting on Day 2, they figure that will be a good time to look around the Coenoby and see if they can dig up any dirt on Raknian...

EPISODE 64: Valediction for the Ninja

Maya 5-8, 754 YE

REVOLUTION CALLING!

When the elevator hits the lower level beneath the Dark Reliquary dungeons, Emeris, Vatex, Early, Gareth Porter, and Falstef find Dziga holding the strange cube in his hand. Something about the strange cube unsettles them when they look at it.

The air in this temple is supernaturally cold -- other than Early whose Phoenix Helm can protect him from the elements, and Falstef who is immune to cold, the others will soon die from the freezing temperature within 15 minutes. They must find a way to escape.

They also find the ghosts who had ignored Dziga eyeing them evilly. They must get out of this place! So they explore the long tubular tunnel. About 150 feet down they find a single door that miraculously exits onto a ledge on the the Cliff of Lost Wishes. The feel of cool fresh ocean air brings great relief. A narrow pathway along the cliff leads down to the Elan city docks. They are free! Vatex reasons that when the time comes to return and rescue his sister Calista from the Keepers’ clutches, they could theoretically reenter the Dark Reliquary this same way.

When the companions reach the docks, they discover that despite it being past midnight, there is an unusual amount of activity at the docks. Ships are being hastily loaded and moving out of the bay. When they inquire with a few dock workers, they learn that there is a huge protest going on outside the fortress of Dalengard, and there is some rioting and looting going on in Oldtown.

Gareth Porter says it is time for him to go home. But it seems the Rosegate Company, for reasons not entirely clear, has decided that they now own Gareth Porter because they freed him from the Dark Reliquary prison. Dziga saps the poor guy and knocks him out cold, and Early throws his unconscious body over his shoulder.

Falstef is disgusted with his rescuers lack of principles, and says their time together is over. But since he cannot return to his home plane of Mount Celestia, he doesn’t know what to do. Vatex tells him of the Pale Tower, the abode of myriad celestials in Elan. The elven urban ranger escorts the angel there while the others head home.

On the way, Early stops by the house of a wealthy industrialist in the Guildsman District named DORZAN. It seems Early had earlier made a deal with this man to trade the Wind Duke Ring for a powerful weapon.

Even though it is the middle of the night, Dorzan is actually awake, too anxious about the protests going on at Dalengard. He sounds concerned that the government might actually be overthrown, and if so, crazy anti-business folks will take control.

Anyway, Dorzan possesses a powerful weapon called SHEOL, which is an ancient dwarven gunblade that combines a gun with a blade. Beyond the ingenuity of its design, the weapon is powerfully enchanted -- it disrupts illusion effects, inflicts extra pain upon chaotic foes, and holds tons of ammunition within a special extra-dimensional space, so it can be reloaded very efficiently.



Everyone regroups then heads through Oldtown to get back home. Many shops have been looted and many fires have been set throughout the district. Strangely, the city watch isn’t doing much about it. Weirdly, they even encounter a couple of guardsmen killing another guards in an alley.

The protest around Dalengard is huge, possibly as many as 2000 people have crowded into the area surrounding the fortress. Everyone is pissed about high taxes paid to the Holy Empire, high food prices, high inflation, and wars. They even find Seanus, their butler, getting in on the protest. It seems Seanus supports higher taxes on adventuring companies.

Suddenly, a massive explosion rocks the central keep of Dalengard. Word starts spreading that Republican forces have infiltrated the fortress and are attempting to capture the city council and overthrow the government. Could it be true?

Back at the Rosegate House, the companions tie up Gareth Porter and throw him in the basement. Their plans for the unfortunate investigative reporter are not clear...

A NEW AGE OF FREEDOM?

The next morning, the Rosegate Company heads out to breakfast. They see the huge protest continues unabated. Rumors have spread saying that there is all-out battle within the walls of Dalengard, between the Republican insurgents and the government. What will be the outcome?

While eating a delicious breakfast, out of the blue they receive a shadow sending from WILLIAM ARTURIUS. He is a wealthy aristocrat who used to have a big estate in northern Vigoor. Now he lives in Elan, and is known for being co-owner of the Aristocrats Table (fancy restaurant in the Nobles Quarter), having a massive book collection, and giving lots of money to various charitable causes. He is asking the Rosegate Company to meet with him for a business proposition.

On the way back to the Nobles Quarter to meet Mr Arturius, they again must pass by the big protest. It seems the battle within the fortress is over, as a dude holding a Republican flag and a bloody sword appears on the roof. He calls out to the people in the square, “A new age of freedom is dawning for our city! The imperial government of Elan has fallen. Our leader will appear shortly to address you all!”

The companions wait around, interested to hear this upcoming speech. Thousands more people fill the square as they wait around for several hours. Then Loris Raknian, the new leader of the Republicans since Helmut Itlstein’s death, appears with his entourage on the Dalengard roof.



He declares that Elan is no longer the puppet of a “so-called god-emperor in Tairon.” The new government of Elan, which will be established by himself during this “transition period,” will serve the people, not the special interests. He says the Empire’s Vast Codex will be discarded and a new Constitution will be written. Many new intended policies are announced, including but not limited to:

- higher taxes on capital and adventuring companies
- new social programs to help the poor
- prices controls and minimum wages

As a brutal capstone to this speech, Raknian brings up eight captured members of the city council, otherwise known as the Twelve Commanders. Also among the prisoners is the Commissar himself. In front of his massive audience, Raknian pulls out a gun and shoots the Commissar in the head, tossing his dead body over the ramparts, declaring that there is no place for the Empire’s former executive of the city government. He asks the other members of the council if they will side with the new “free city’s” government or the Holy Empire. Only ASHBY GERARD, former captain of the city watch, openly says his loyalty is forever to his Holy Emperor. So he is shot in the head by Rakian also.

With that, Raknian declares that there are warrants out for the arrest of the other council members that have not been captured.

Finally, Raknian declares that the Trial of Champions -- Elan’s team fighting tournament -- normally held every five years, will be held this summer, one year early, to help raise money for the new government and boost its economy.

Now some people think all this is great, but it scares many others. Firstly, there are a lot of Vigoorian people living in Elan, and many of them identify nationalistically with the Empire. So they don’t like all the Empire-bashing and whatnot. And while many folks support Raknian and the Republicans’ general philosophy of “democratic socialism” or whatever it is, it is clear the guy is pretty brutal and ruthless, what with this violent overthrow and the execution of the Commissar and Ashby Gerard.

As the companions head up to Mr Arturius’ house, they discuss whether they should enter the Trial of Champions this year. It is an event known all over the continent where various adventuring companies fight in a tournament. The winner gets a Champions’ Belt and a big pot of gold. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t...

NINJA GAIDEN

They meet with William Arturius, who says he received a strange letter from the ninja Zuuma, who was the only survivor of the Shadowblade Company sent by Lord Sadar. In the letter, Zuuma reveals that he plans to kill Arturius, and the only way the old aristocrat stands a chance is if he hires the Rosegate Company to protect him. Obviously, that’s pretty weird, and the group reasons that whatever Zuuma’s reasons for wanting to kill Arturius, he apparently wants to get another crack at the Rosegate Company at the same time.

The Rosegate Company agrees to the proposition, taking a big fee plus a few bottles of fancy wine from Arturius’ cellar. The Rosegate Company temporarily moves into the servant quarters of Arturius’ mansion, keeping guard over the property and watching out for ninja attacks.

Overall, it’s a pretty sweet job. Over the new few days, there is zero action. MIDA, the maid, makes them delicious food. JAIRA, the hot daughter of Mr Arturius, exchanges some flirtation with Emeris. The only annoying thing is the son of their employer, JURO. Juro believes this is all some conspiracy to kill his father and that the Rosegate Company is probably “in on it” with this Zuuma character. But all things considered, the situation is strange and so perhaps his lack of trust is justified.

Early takes crazy narcotics that help him stay awake, because he doesn’t want to miss any action. Emeris only sleeps one hour per day, while Dziga and Vatex trade off their shifts every so often.

Then, around lunch time on the third day, Zuuma’s forces attack.

Dziga is hanging out on the roof in the sunny weather, hiding invisibly by the door. Suddenly something flies overhead, and the roof is bombarded by ion cannons! Dziga avoids the assault, then sees five figures jump off the soaring vessel, which then flies away.

ZUUMA'S RECRUITS: THE HAMMER GOD AND THE PRISM PIRATES!

Dziga wonders for a second if he is imagining things, as the group before him is so ridiculous. One is a big ogre called MORAG-ZUL who looks surprisingly nimble, wielding a huge hammer that cackles with power. The others are the four Prism Pirates!!!



Prism Red! The leader! He fights with magical energy knives that he conjures up with the power of his mind!

Prism Green! A big brute of a man who fights with a strange club shaped like a shark!

Prism Blue! A specialist mage known as a “grapplemancer”! He starts powering up with magic and doubles in size, grows huge spikes out of his flesh, starts dripping acid from his suit, and becomes surrounded in an aura of fire!

Prism Yellow! A daring rogue who fights with lightning power and acid flasks!

None of them see Dziga, who remains hidden. Prism Red and Green set up a grappling hook then rappel down the house’s eastern side, kicking through the window into Jaira’s bedroom. The ogre smashes through the door that heads from the roof to the house, and then heads down with Prism Yellow and Blue. Dziga silently and invisibly follows them, and calls his shadow from downstairs.

Below, the Arturius family hides in their rooms while everyone heads upstairs upon hearing the ion cannon attack. Emeris, keeping vigilant by Mr Arturius’ bedroom door with Early, sees the attackers come down the stairs from the roof. He tries to paralyze Prism Yellow with shadowmagic, but she resists and launches a volley of acid flasks that splatter all over Early. The warblade avoids the potentially brunt of the devastating sneak attack by having an uncanny ability to avoid being caught flat-footed. Then Prism Yellow generates a yellow bolt of electricity that arcs through the hallway and catches both the warblade and the shadowcaster.

Prism Blue, buffed up with reams of spells to enhance his wrestling abilities, charges the shocked warblade and snatches him into a crushing bearhug. Prism Blue’s magic body spikes pierce Early’s flesh; the flaming aura scorches him; the acid secreted from the pirate’s flesh melts his own.

It sounds like Prism Red and Green are breaking down walls in Jaira’s room. The hot daughter is screaming. Morag-Zul begins to advance down the corridor and Dziga goes for the attack on the unsuspecting ogre. Asura stabs into his back and the ogre howls, spinning with his huge hammer.

“You fool!” shouts the ogre. “You cannot fight against me -- I am the Hammer God!” The ogre swings his magical hammer which smashes Dziga in the chest. Bones crack and one of his lungs collapses. The power of that blow was so vicious Dziga is certain a second will kill him.

After scanning the first level and finding it clear, Vatex rushes upstairs and sees the attack unfolding. He springs forward to help the fighting Early, and stabs Prism Blue with both his swords. The Blue Ranger err pirate stumbles a bit but maintains his vice-like grip of doom on Early.

The warblade switches to Wolverine Stance, twisting his arms of the grapple with Cryssaegrym in one hand and Sheol in the other. “Finishing move!” Early declares anime-style. “Cryssaegrym Wolf Blitz/Raging Mongoose!”

With that, Early unleashes a fearsome assault with both weapons, the details of which become lost as Prism Blue literally explodes into a cloud of body chunks and blood. So brutal and savage is Early’s assault that even the bad-ass members of the Rosegate Company have to avert their gaze. Probability-wise, Prism Blue should have still survived... his displacement field should have negated enough attacks. However, the new gunblade Sheol’s illusion bane property completely bypassed this otherwise effective defense.

Prism Yellow regains her senses, stunned by the violence, and launches more flasks at the warblade. Vatex rushes her and hits her with two sword attacks. The Prism Pirates’ red and green members continue smashing through rooms to the side, apparently trying to flank the group by coming out the wall behind them. Dziga takes a gamble and tries to kill Morag-Zul as his shadow companion appears and flanks the ogre. His flurry of sneak attacks is awesome, but Morag-Zul laughs it off despite being badly injured. His wounds are regenerating!

Dziga ducks the first swing of the hammer, but the second two smash him in the body and head. He drops to the ground bleeding heavily from his ears and seeming dead to his observing companions. “HAHAHA” laughs the ogre as Emeris shadow jumps beside him and attacks with the Shadowgeist Reaver. The ogre dodges the attack but finds Early rushing down the hallway, past Vatex and the Prism Yellow. The warblade completes a Swooping Dragon Strike maneuver. The ogre takes a swing at Early while he jumps, hitting him but not knocking him off course. The maneuver leaves the ogre stunned and near death. The shadow saps strength from the dying ogre with its chilling touch.

Early’s Elder Mountain Hammer takes down the ogre while he is stunned, as Prism Red and Green smash through the wall into the hallway. Emeris goes to Dziga’s side and finds him barely alive. The shadowcaster uses his power to connect Dziga’s lifeforce to the Plane of Shadow, giving him power to fight temporarily. Prism Yellow tumbles out of Vatex and the others’ reach, hurling an acid flask at the elf and then firing a lightning bolt down the hall. Only Dziga evades the shot, and Early would have been killed but for the electricity resistance generated by his helmet.

Prism Red fires up a protective multicolored aura of swirling colors and throws a bunch of flaming knives of pure force at Vatex, but the elf’s displacement cloak protects him from all but a single hit. Vatex uses his Boots of Active Assault to quickly rush Prism Green. As the raging barbarian in the green lycra raises his shark club to strike, Vatex hits him with a full attack. The Storm Sword and Sword of Aqa’a splatter the Green Pirate/Ranger in seconds. Dziga gets to his feet and fires an arrow from Roguefriend that busts through Prism Yellow’s visor and into her face, so she dies.

Early starts downing some healing potions and Emeris joins Vatex in attacking Prism Red. Vatex smacks his swords together which produces a blast of lightning, but Prism Red’s inherent powers give him resistance to all elements. The shadow companion of Dziga flies in and its hand grabs at the pirate leader, draining strength.

Emeris strikes with the Shadowgeist Reaver, draining some of Prism Red’s lifeforce. Unfortunately, as he strikes his spectral weapon passes through arcing yellow energy in the prismatic aura around his foe, and suffers a backlash of powerful electric energy. OUCH! Red backpedals nimbly and hurls another volley of flaming force knives at Emeris, but his protective shield of shadow energy blocks them. No one wants to attack Prism Red directly after seeing what his aura did, but then Dziga fires a few arrows that leave the pirate struggling to survive. Prism Pirate Red makes an attempt to flee, leaping over the railing to the library on the first floor, but his escape ends with death as Emeris fires an umbral ray that blows his head off.

Mr Arturius, Jaira, and Juro emerge from their rooms. “Is it over...?” they ask.

It seems to be, until a moment later when they hear a loud voice: “Rosegate Company, join me outside in the courtyard and we will finish this once and for all!” That sounds like Zuuma!

FACEOFF

Everyone heals up and rushes out of the busted up hallway, that is going to need a renovation after this. They head downstairs and outside. They look around for the ninja but there is no sign of him -- but suddenly, a wall of mist arises from the ground and expands to form a ceiling over them.

Then stepping into the dome of mist at the southern edge is the powerful ninja Zuuma and ten other shadow ninjas.



“This ends now!!!” Zuuma yells as he launches a flurry of flaming shuriken at Vatex. Again Vatex’s cloak protects him from a lot of pain, but he takes one nasty hit that leaves a nasty scorched cut under his left eye. Dziga returns the attack by disappearing into the elf’s shadow, then reappearing suddenly and shooting an arrow at Zuuma, catching him in the chest. Before Vatex can follow-up on that attack, he is attacked with three shadow rays fired from ninjas on the right. The other two ninjas on that side charge Dziga’s with their Cthonic Serpent Strike maneuvers. Dziga takes a few hits then Vatex shifts over and cuts them down swiftly.

Ninjas on the other side fire their shadow rays, hitting the group. Early deflects one attack with Cryssaegrym. Emeris advances on the left side and strikes back with Killing Shadows, slaying three of them in a blast of destructive power. As he readies a second blast, the other two attack him with more Serpent Strikes. Despite the assault, Emeris keeps drawing shadow energy into himself.

Early switches to his Steel Wind stance and moves extra quickly to take on Zuuma directly. He goes all out with Wolf Blitz again, and channels another Elder Mountain Hammer. Zuuma’s kusari-gama lashes out as he closes in, cutting him across the legs. Zuuma adjusts his kurasi-gama as Early attacks savagely and snaps out the blunt end of the weapon which hits Early flat in the face, breaking his nose. At that moment Early’s maneuver is executed and with tremendous force smashes Cryssaegrym into the ninja’s chest, leaving Zuuma spewing blood from his mouth and struggling to regain balance.

Two more ninjas close in on Vatex and Dziga. Vatex takes care of them masterfully while Dziga advances on Zuuma again, but the ninja avoids his arrows.

Zuuma swings the chained weapon around Early’s legs, tripping the warblade. The heavy ball end of the weapon swings down toward the prone Early’s head, but he rolls aside at the last moment. The fifth ninja on the right side charges the prone Early as well, finding the prone Early an easy target. The slender ninja cuts him pretty good.

Vatex cuts down the two attacking ninjas swiftly, taking only one hit in the process. They are good, but no match for the elf’s fancy and deadly swordsmanship. Emeris blasts more killing shadows killing the final two ninjas on the left side.

Early tries to stand as the last ninja and Zuuma hack at him. Dziga springs into the melee which draws enough attention for Early to get on his feet. Zuuma’s weapon lashes out and wraps around the blade of Cryssaegrym, and the weapon is yanked from Early’s hand! “Damn you, ninja!” says Early as he grips Sheol with both hands and executes a Swooping Dragon Strike. Zuuma’s head goes flying from his shoulders and hot blood sprays all over the place. Dziga attacks the final ninja although the ninja should have dodged it, Dziga triggers the Impossibility Cube to change reality and make the blow connect. The ninja dies from Asura stabbing him in the face.

Zuuma’s arena of mist dissipates upon his death, and the Rosegate Company takes all the valuable gear possessed by their dead foes. Mr Arturius pays them and they head home, happy with a job well done.

EPISODE 63: Escape from the Keepers

Maya 4, 754 YE

A PROMISE TO RETURN

In the dungeons beneath the Dark Reliquary, home of the demonic Fallen and the undead-worshipping Forsaken, and at least a few members of the mysterious Keepers of the Faith organization...

It is only a few moments after the demon lord Ochremeshyk exits the Cruciform Prison that Emeris the shade, Vatex the urban ranger, and Dziga the shadow-rogue hear sounds of battle erupt outside. Seeing as the big red demon is thoroughly occupied, Dziga hastily exits his cell and grabs the magic keys from the dead guard. He then releases his friends and they retrieve their equipment from the chest in the guard room. Fully equipped, they return to the prison and release all the prisoners.

Except Calista. Her cell door is made of black adamantine layered with an aura of invisible force. Its complex locking mechanism is completely alien even to Dziga. She says only Drusii carries the key to her cell. Vatex declares they will simply hunt down Drusii and kill her, but surprisingly Calista protests. She avers quite convincingly that they are simply too weak to defeat the mighty Drusii. “Long have I yearned to be free, but even I must understand that now is not my destined time to escape. All this time I have had a profound sense that there is a greater destiny planned for me, and your appearance confirms it. Please brother, promise me you will return when you are stronger! You are my only hope.”

With that, something seems to awaken within Vatex. A small multifaceted object that looks like a prism of polished glass emerges from his chest. Calista focuses on it for a moment and then it reenters Vatex’s body.

“We both carry these Talismans of Law,” she says. “It is a sign that we were chosen. Come back for me... but for now you must go!”

Vatex feels different now. He feels a power within him, a power linking the lawful aspect of his alignment to the metaphysical lawful order that structures the universe.

Falstef the angel and Tiraeg the orc are eager to escape. Falstef’s angelic spell-like powers have faded over the many thousands of years he was locked up, but once Vatex restores some of his power with various healing items, he is at least capable of fighting. When they release Cardalian the halfling, she goes totally crazy rolls around on the ground screaming about “they’re cutting me!” Thinking she is utterly insane, they abandon her. The unnamed elf, who is actually an award-winning investigative journalist named GARETH PORTER. As for Prisoner X, they try to recruit him for their big prisonbreak and break the ring of salt that seems to restrain him, but he seems unable or unwilling to communicate, and Dziga is forced to put him down with three quick arrows when he makes a motion to attack.

Then as they are about to leave the prison, they suddenly hear a familiar voice from the prison exit, over the sounds of Ochremeshyk’s battle agains the Dark Reliquary’s denizens. It yells, “Suck it, demon!” Hey, that’s Early!

Suddenly the warblade stumbles into the doorway, half-naked and filthy, hands covered in blood, and carrying the severed head of some unfortunate demon. It seems Early had been captured as well... and he too had escaped from a torture room a few doors down the hall, albeit in a less fancy way. They learn that Early had been tricked by a merchant who’d turned out to be an agent of the Keepers of the Faith, and captured by him. He’d actually been in the Cruciform Prison before they showed up... but for the last 18 or so hours they have been beating him, burning him, and pulling out his toenails.

THE INMATES HAVE TAKEN OVER THE ASYLUM

So the reunited Rosegate Company and their hodgepodge squad of escapees head out of the prison to the dark dungeons. They note the vestibule to the north is full of carnage as Ochremeshyk is assailed by all sorts of Dark Reliquary inhabitants as he fights his way to the exit. Ochremeshyk explodes them with powerful magic or simply hacks them apart with his sword. Many demons teleport into the fray, take a nasty hit, then immediately teleport away, only to be replaced by others. Then the Dark Reliquary’s two balors arrive on the scene, and its a balor smackdown!

Everyone wonders how they will escape if they have to cross the vestibule. Then Dziga says they need to go down to escape, and explains that Keziah showed him the way to “freedom” in his dream. Everyone concedes to trust him, but it seems terribly counterintuitive to go deeper into the Dark Reliquary’s dungeons.

One problem: they need to find Early’s stuff! Fortunately they find it after searching only a few rooms, but then as they leave the room they are attacked by a pair of vampires in the corridor! Dziga slows them down with an illusion which gives Emeris the opportunity to blast them at point blank range with killing shadows. This attack instantly destroys the rapier-wielding vampire fighter and weakens the vampire sorceress. She powers up a defensive spell but then Dziga hits her in the throat with an arrow. This triggers her defensive magic which fires a blast of dark energy along the path taken by the rogue’s arrow. Dziga leaps aside just as he fires another shot. As the vampire tries to pull the first arrow from her throat, the second takes her in the face and she bursts into vampiric vapor.



At the other end of the corridor, two hideous kere demons comes rushing towards them. They look like naked bald women with clawed talons like vultures for feat and spider legs sticking from her back where wings would be, and they wield nasty looking double-bladed swords. Vatex takes a hit but retaliates with a brutal onslaught with the Wind Duke swords. The Sword of Aqaa, being especially potent against chaotic evil outsiders, just hacks shit right up. The kere is gruesomely dismembered as Early smashes into the second one -- “Rabid Bear Strike!!!” blood sprays in his face as the warblade strikes a nasty blow, but it still lives, its demonic resistance having softened the blow. He hits it against, overcoming resistance with Elder Mountain Hammer. Emeris joins the fight and wills the Shadowgeist Reaver to appear in his hand. He swings at the nimble demon and the incorporeal blade passes through her torso with no resistance. A fraction of the demon’s lifeforce is passed into Emeris, and it is dazed by the agony. Vatex uses this opportunity to spring in and slay it with the Sword of Aqaa.

Dziga leads the way after the fight. Again they pass the battle at the Vestibule, this time seeing Ochremeshyk marked with a few not-negligible wounds and the two balors he’s fighting bleeding badly. They teleport away, then six seconds later a beautiful, black-haired woman appears in the northeast corner, and fires a wave of black energy that knocks the huge demon to the ground. Then the two Dark Reliquary balors reappear, fully healed. Another wave of lesser demons teleports in as well, and the assault is renewed as the black-haired woman vanishes.

The companions pass by and go down the stairs to the lower level. They enter a large hallway, down which they find Ralderpon, Ganbar, and Zagdok! But they are no longer dressed like Knights of the Pale. They are dressed like Keepers of the Faith, and each of their robes feature a numeral I, II, and III respectively.

TRIPLE KEEPER ATTACK!


The Keepers then shift to their battle forms -- and the companions find themselves fighting three battle forms just like Relegin! Well, Relegin had looked a little bigger and stronger than these, but they could not overlook the fact that Relegin had put down Vatex (maybe even two Vatexes, depending on how you look at it), put down Dziga, then nearly put down Early as well back in one fateful battle down in the Banewarrens. Now they would face three such Keepers!

Early and Vatex rush Ralderpon. As the elf springs forward, a lashing tentacle from Ganbar pierces his shoulder, and Ralderpon winds up a huge punch that clocks him in the face. He stumbles but lunges and stabs, triggering his magic vest for an extra attack. He dives to the side as Ralderpon takes another swing at him. Ralderpon attacks Vatex full-on. One tentacle pierces his shoulder, another goes through the side of his abdomen. The displacement cloak saves him from a nasty hit aimed at his face, and he ducks under one claw but the other hooks him in the back. As Ralderpon forces the elf back on his heels, four deep cuts slice into him as Early attacks with the Rabid Wolf Strike. As the Keeper stumbles back gushing blood, Early takes an unexpected low swipe. Cryssaegrym hacks deep into Ralderpon’s ankle, then pulls free to block a piercing tentacle strike.

Emeris rushes forth, his hands becoming charged with power. He extends his hands and an umbral ray hits Zagdok square in the chest, a wound that jets hot blood. Zagdok rushes the shadowcaster and hits him with a series of tentacle attacks. Bleeding heavily, the shadowcaster Emeris calls upon his shade powers and creates 7 duplicate images of himself to draw attacks.

Dziga advances, loosing arrows as he slips in and out of shadows. Somehow, Gandar still manages to see him and assaults Dziga with an array of attacks. He avoids the grabbing claws but three tentacle attaks pierce his body.. As his blink armor saves him from another nasty hit, then he remembers that Relegin had extremely keen senses. He falls back into shadow and drinks his special elixir of hiding.

As Dziga vanishes from sight, Falstef charges in against Ganbar with a glaive taken from a dead demon upstairs and hacks at the Keeper. Tiraeg follows, brandishing the fiery rapier taken from the blasted vampire upstairs. His emotion obviously got the better of him, for he is in no physical condition to fight, being totally emaciated. Ganbar’s tentacle lashes out and pierces his skull, killing him instantly on approach.

Emeris needs to heal, but instead he hustles to reposition for an attack, letting his mirror images absorb the opportunity attacks. Drawing power from within and heightening it with his metashadow rod and ring, tenebrous energy begins flaring around him. “METASHADOW MAXIMIZE...EMPOWER... KILLING SHADOWS!!!”

A wave of pure shadowy destruction erupts from Emeris’ eyes, hitting both Ganbar and Zagdok. Their powerful spell resistance provides no defense. Chunks of flesh are torn from the Keepers’ bodies and the floor is covered in green from their blood. Emeris then fires another umbral ray before shadow jumping down the hallway, out of the fight to drink a healing potion.

Ralderpon is flanked by Early and Vatex and in trouble. The elf aggressively goes for the kill, his blades striking vital organs five times with a flurry that overwhelms the Keeper. Ralderpon takes a few steps forward, reaching for the elf with his big claws, then falls over dead.

Undetectable to the remaining Keepers, Dziga fires at the bloodied enemies as the dust settles after Emeris’ attack. One of his arrows hits Zagdok in the side of the head, and he begins stumbling around clumsily. Falstef is caught by one of Zagdok’s wild swinging claws, but he recovers and slashes thrice with his own weapon at Ganbar, who screams. Early uses the Elder Mountain Hammer against Ganbar, which explodes through the Keeper’s chest, killing him, but he takes a nasty hit in the process. Vatex rushes forward and slays the crippled Zagdok with a final blow.

MORE DEMONS!

The group is bleeding from many wounds, however they are given no time to rest as another demon stumbles upon the scene. It has a body like a burly dude with shaggy brown hair, four arms wielding swords and axes, and a big ape-like head. But then the ape-head opens its mouth wide and reveals a human head inside! It is a carnevus demon, and it gives them a strangely pleasant greeting before starting to speak unbelievably fast with its mouth-within-a-mouth. A fireball launches from its chest into the corridor -- Early and Vatex are caught in the blast but Dziga manages to jump clear with his unnatural deftness. Vatex lunges towards the carnevus and stabs into it with the Storm Sword. Then Emeris reappears nearby, firing an umbral ray blasts a smoking hole in the monster’s shoulder.



Then another demon, a solomoth, enters from the other side. It is a big fat disgusting creature, with a disturbing baby-like face, whose giant belly seems to contain many screaming heads whose expressions of horror can be made out in the indentations of the demon’s belly flesh. It thrusts its own hand into its abdomen, causing burning blood and slime to spray out. It rummages around in the disgusting contents of its belly then pulls out a flaming, screaming head that drips with slimy gore. Dziga hits it with an arrow, but still the demon hurls its disgusting projectile at Early. The warblade snarls and fires a few shots at the demon, whole returns the favor by throwing a flaming head at Dziga. His armor blinks at the right moment and it sails through him. Dziga triggers his haste boots and disappears, helped by his elixir. The solomoth looks on stupidly a rapid volley of arrows seemingly shoots out of nowhere and into its engorged stomach. Its flaming slimy blood sprays everywhere. Then demon explodes in a shower of burning putrescence.





Vatex finds himself focusing intently against the carnevus’ four-armed assault of blades. The demon is fast and deadly, impossibly so. It begins yammering another rapid spell but Vatex interrupts the effect with a strike before it completes. The carnevus makes ten attacks! Vatex’s cloak of displacement shifts him to avoid one blow and he dodges or blocks all but one of the others! Early is badly injured, but he wants to spill more demon blood. As Emeris fires more umbral rays at the demon, Early hacks into it, following up with an unexpected blow. Vatex’s brutal assault finishes the nasty demon.

DOWN THE WELL

They then navigate a creepy side passage where clawed hands burst from the wall to grab at trespassers. Dziga and Vatex tumble through, Emeris shadow jumps, and Early uses a potion of flying to get himself, Falstef, and Gareth Porter across.

They pass a room of magical darkness. Before them is a massive set of double doors, beyond which they can hear the most awful, inhuman screams of agony. At the side is a distinctively older door. They pass through it, and into an old storage room that seems to never be used by the denizens of the Dark Reliquary. Down the hall they find a chamber that seems to be an old shrine of some kind. Its walls are painted with intricate images of various demons and eldritch horrors. Everyone in the room feels an indescribable sense of dread, which seems to emanate from the old well in the center of this chamber. The dream of Keziah seems to have been accurate. However, the well is fitted with a massive iron plug that would be difficult to move. Dziga and Vatex locate a hidden lever around the sealed well which opens a secret entrance into a strange spherical room below.

Dziga goes down to investigate. He finds a panel, hits a switch, and discovers this spherical room is actually some kind of elevator. The chamber seals, cutting him off from the others, and he begins to descend.

An indeterminate amount of time passes. Dziga’s senses seem clouded. His head is pounding. A profound, ineffable sense of evil emanates from below. He reaches the bottom and a part of the wall slides away to reveal a circular room. It is obvious the place is not a natural cavern, but it is so old that that calcite deposits dripping from the stones have formed stalagmites and stalactites over time. The air is dangerously cold, and the walls and floors are damp and slippery.

Strange spectres drift around the room, barely recognizable as human because of their extreme deformities, but they do not seem hostile. Dziga exits the circular room into a long corridor shaped like a horizontal cylinder. The darkness and cold seems especially deep here. The passage extends farther east than Dziga’s enhanced vision can detect. On either side of him it a set of very large double doors made of strange black metal.

Then, one of the doors on the south side opens slightly. For some reason, Dziga feels as if it had opened to _welcome_ him.

Dziga passes through the open door, and goes around an unsettling pit in the center of a large cavern. Somehow, he senses that there is something on the other side that he must see. And yet, the great sense of evil grows stronger as he proceeds.

THE STIRRING STONE

Beyond, the next cavern looks like it was melted with acid or something. In the center of it is a 30 foot tall idol that looks like an obelisk but is composed entirely of writhing black tendrils. Dziga hears what he thinks is an unintelligible whisper, then a strange object appears within the tendrils and is held out.



“You must take it for us,” says Jenkins, who has suddenly appeared at Dziga’s feet. “We need it.”

“What is it? Why do you want it?”

“It is special gift to us,” the fiendish rat familar replies.

Dziga approaches the writhing spire and takes the object, which is a black metal cube, about 3 inches to a side. Or at least, almost a cube. As Dziga looks at it, some of the sides look less-than-straight. Or maybe not. He can’t be sure. It seems hard to focus on the cube. There are also various chaotic squiggles etched on the cube, which might be writing of some sort, but when Dziga tries to focus on them his head hurts and he feels nauseous.

When Dziga begins to walk out of the cave, and sees Jenkins’ head sticking out from a small crevice in the wall. “Good!” he says with a creepy smile. “You hold in your hand an Impossibility Cube.”

“Impossibility Cube? What does it do?” asks the rogue.

“It has many purposes. Most importantly, it is a BEACON.”

“A beacon for what?” Dziga asks. Jenkins says nothing. “Damn you Jenkins, answer me! I don’t know what you freaks are planning, but this cube is mine now. I’m not giving it to you. If Keziah or the Black Man won’t tell me what’s going on, they’re just going to have to try and take it.”

“But we don’t want to take it from you,” Jenkins says. “We want YOU to have it.” With that, he retreats into the hole in the wall, leaving Dziga cold and confused in the cave with a weird cube in his frozen hands.

ANCIENT TEMPLE OF EVIL

Above, Vatex is able to trigger the elevator to return to the top. While they wait, a thought occurs to Falstef that seems to concern him greatly. “If that goes where I think it goes,” he says, “we should definitely not go down there.”

“What exactly do you think is down there?” asks Early.

Falstef replies, “A temple of incredible evil that is so ancient, it has existed here since the birth of this world.”

But what choice to they have? Back through the Dark Reliquary, and get killed in the crossfire between that demon lord and everyone else? Or down and out through the old evil temple? Everyone hops in the elevator and rides to the bottom, oblivious to the gravity of what has just transpired below.

NEXT TIME: What's up with that cube? Can the companions escape through this ancient temple of evil?

EPISODE 62: Prisoners of the Keepers of the Faith

Maya 3-4, 754 YE

KHYRON, WE HARDLY KNEW YE

The Rosegate Company has decided to help Mystina go stop the resurrection of Khyron. They meet her the next day, with her entourage -- three Knights of the Pale men-at-arms named RALDERPON, GANBAR, and ZAGDOK. Early, however, does not join them. He had said he was going to take the Wind Duke Ring to trade it for a special magic weapon he needed. However, he does not show up at the time of their meeting so they go on without him.

They enter the Necropolis in the daytime (to avoid the undead that roam the streets at night) and go to the crypt of a guy named “Bruce Willis”, where intelligence acquired by Mystina reveals that the undead worshipping Forsaken will try to restore life to Khyron. Within the crypt the companions fight against a Forsaken spellcaster and his group of ogre and minotaur zombies. It is an easy fight... too easy.

When they reach the chamber in the undercroft where the ritual is supposedly taking place, they discover the entire ritual is just an elaborate illusion. Mystina breaks open a special spore that releases poison gas that knocks the companions unconscious. Dziga’s shadow flees as the fake Mystina and her cronies haul the sleeping companions away.

When they awaken many hours later, they discover they have been taken to one of the most dreaded places in all the world -- the Cruciform Prison beneath the Dark Reliquary.

CAN WE ESCAPE? THE HORRIBLE CRUCIFORM PRISON!

The kidnapped companions find themselves bound with special antimagic bracers that prevent any of their magic or supernatural powers from operating. There are other high-profile prisoners in the prison as well:

> FALSTEF, one of the original angels to come to Enhasa, captured long before the city of Elan was even created. His wings had been cut off with a special technique from a hellish manuscript to ensure they would never grow back.
> TIRAEG, an orc from the Plains of Panish in Zeltennia, brought here because Keeper Overlord Shiiva believed his tribe possessed special knowledge about the demon lord OCHREMESHYK.
> CARDALIAN, a mysterious halfling lady.
> An albino psychokineticist called PRISONER X, who has no door on his cell because it would be useless. Instead, he seems to be held in place by a ring of salt on the floor around him.
> An unnamed elven male.
> Most interestingly, a silver-haired elf woman named CALISTA. This is the woman Vatex had seen in the mirrors on so many occasions.

Dziga makes a brave attempt to escape by getting out of the bracers then shadow-jumping through his cell’s force door. He is spotted, however, by the guard, a d’stradi “dancing demon”, who teleports away then returns with two more guards, and the mistress of the prison -- the powerful Keeper of the Faith Drusii. Drusii takes on her battle form, a large serpentine six-armed demon, then tail slaps Dziga and grabs him, trying to crush him into unconsciousness. He resists and shadowjumps out of her grasp. In desperation, Dziga rushes Prisoner X and breaks his ring of salt, and the special psion unleashes blasts of force that sends both him and Drusii flying. Drusii knocks out Dziga with another tail slap, then recaptures Prisoner X while he tries to breakdown the black adamantine door at the north end of the prison with telekinetic blasts.



Dziga is taken elsewhere to be “dealt with” for his escape attempt. Emeris speaks with the orc Tiraeg, who seems to have a powerful soul magic spell inscribed on one of his teeth. Tiraeg says someone with a connection to arcane magic should be able to activate that spell and it could be their only chance to break free. But if the attempt fails, then they might be stuck here forever. The orc will not reveal the exact nature of the spell for he says if he does, Emeris might not want to activate it.

THERE’S A THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR - HER FACE IS GETTING CLEARER

Vatex speaks with Calista at last. He is relieved to have found her, and yet she is very sad and speaks of grave matters. She says that both her and Vatex carry “Talismans of Law”, and she asks if he knows who carries the third talisman, but he has no idea what she is talking about. It is revealed that Calista has been here since she was a baby, a subject of great interest to Archanfel and Shiiva. It seems that the Keepers of the Faith’s leaders believe that the Elder Gods themselves encoded important information within Calista’s dreams about their return to Enhasa, and the return of the Vallis Moon. The companions know that the Vallis Moon appeared in the night sky when Khyron attempted his ritual to bring about the Night of Dissolution, but it vanished shortly after its appearance. It seems Archanfel had long ago given up on getting any special information out of Calista, as whatever information was meant to be revealed by her dreams was completely unknowable, since she seemed incapable of dreaming entirely. No magic could force her to dream or reveal information hidden within her mind. But Shiiva remained convinced that her special information was somehow vital if only it could be revealed, and continued to seek a means to discover this information. So far, there had been no success...



Unconscious elsewhere in the Dark Reliquary’s dungeons, Dziga dreams that he is visited by by Brown Jenkins. The night hag’s fiendish familiar tells him that when he gets his chance to break out of the prison, he must “go up to escape, but go down to find freedom.” This enigmatic suggestion becomes more concrete when Keziah appears and guides him ethereally through the corridors of the Dark Reliquary dungeons, down to the second level to a sealed-off well, from which Dziga can sense an overwhelming sense of dread.

Then he awakes. He is laying on the stone floor under the watch of two d’stradi dancers, at the base of a large deciduous tree that grows out of the stone floor, and seems quite healthy despite a complete lack of sunlight. Large ripe fruits grow on the tree. This is the “Temptation Tree”, used by the dungeon keepers to control the minds of unruly prisoners as it puts them into delusional rapture when they eat the fruit. Dziga feels a strange compulsion reach up and grab a fruit and eat it... but he resists the effect, which earns a thorough beating from the dancing demons guarding him. As he slips into unconsciousness, he hears them say that they will have to tell Drusii he resisted the effect of the tree, so she’ll probably take him to someone called KNIFAL, the torturer at the “Hungry Pit”. The demons share a laugh at the prospect. Whatever that is, it doesn’t sound good.

Back in the Cruciform Prison, Vatex and Emeris are relieved to see Dziga returned. Extra precautions are taken to bind him in his cell. Unfortuately the guard duty has increased to a total of three demons, complicating any escape. Even so, Dziga is pissed and not ready to yield. With his superhuman escape artist abilities, he breaks out of his chains and antimagic bracers. He then proceeds to deactivate the forcecage using a trick that only an elite rogue is capable of. Stealthily creeps out of the prison to scout out the area, and hopefully locate where their equipment has been stashed. Out the western door and down the hallway, he finds a guard room with two Keeper guards and a chest marked “CONFISCATED!” He returns to the prison and sneaks back into his cell.

They decide its time to act now, before the situation becomes more complicated. Tiraeg painfully rips out his molar on which a special soul magic spell was long ago inscribed by orc shamans. The orc spits out blood and tosses the tooth to adjacent Emeris’ cell. He reaches through the bars of pure force and takes the bloody tooth in his hand.

The soul magic calls out to him... although he is a shadowcaster, the shade’s connection to arcane power is just enough to give him the mental grit to manipulate the magic and activate the spell. The tooth begins to quiver in his hand, surging with power... Emeris tosses it out onto the prison floor and instinctively takes cover.

DEMON LORD RAMPAGE

An inferno of demonic flame swirls around the tooth and a 20-foot crimson humanoid with massive horns and a sword shaped like fire. It is the demon lord, Ochremeshyk! He is a balor who tried to fight his way to the top of the Abyssal realms. Unfortunately, before he could attain the power of demon princes like Demogorgon or Orcus, Tiraeg’s great-grandfather, an orc shaman of legendary power, used a powerful soul magic spell to summon Ochremeshyk from the Abyss and bind him to Tiraeg’s tooth when he was but a wee orc boy. The original plan was for the Panish orc tribes to summon this demon lord during the prophecied “Wars of Fire” to ensure their ultimate triumph... but unfortunately, demons in the service of Shiiva abducted Tiraeg a few years ago and brought him to the Dark Reliquary, although they were unable to uncover the secret of his tooth.

Now Tiraeg, not caring about the “Wars of Fires” anymore and only for securing his liberty, has relinquished his tooth to the one person with any connection to arcane power to show up in the Cruciform Prison after all this time -- Emeris. The problem is that he was always told that if Ochremeshyk was released before the proper time ordained, the demon lord would attempt to destroy everyone in his path -- even his liberators. A necessary risk, Tiraeg thought.



“FREEDOM AT LAST!” booms the soul-shuddering voice of Ochremeshyk. With a single blow of his massive sword he nearly cleaves the nearest dancing demon in two. Hearing the disturbance, two more demonic guards teleport into the prison and stop dead in their tracks at the sight of the angry balor who is clearly not a member of their faction.

“Someone needs to warn Drusii about this!” shouts one of the dancing demons.

“Drusii? Hell, someone needs to warn Lord Archanfel!” answers another, recognizing the seriousness of the situation.

Two of the demons quickly teleport out of the prison to inform their superiors. The remaining two exchange worried looks as the raging demon lord turns his attention to them. Within second he hacks them to bits, then he storms out the northern door leaving a trail of fiery footprints.

The prison is now empty of living guards. Now is the companions’ chance to escape!

Next time: Time to escape from the Dark Reliquary before an army of demons and Keepers and Forsaken regroup to stop them!