Rumour Has it part 2:
The Crystal Method as told by Glaurung the Golden Sune's blessings on you all! When I left off my tale we’d just defeated a pair of devil
boars and me the wizard Torvain who was also investigating the fallen star. The wizard was Iscoval who should have been
nearby, this we naturally agreed to do. Larry in the meantime had set to dissecting the boars through
there was little gain from the effort. Still,
we did find a curiosity, each had a shard of crystal embedded in their body,
most strange. We speculated that perhaps
the falling star had flung cyrstals in a great radius but more investigation
was needed. We were close to the lip of the impact site and could see the
smoking pit and the great metallic rock which had struck the earth. Borin and Nadia also spotted two large holes
dug into the ground and we set forth to investigate these. Narc was with the main group along with Larry
and Borin while Gigi hung a little back.
It was a wise move on her part because the ground suddenly shook and
some familiar looking giant insects burrowed from up beneath us; Ankhegs! Nasty as this surprise was, Borin, Larry and I had experience
fighting these beasts from our earlier adventures in the Dwarven Tomb. The creatures indulged in their normal lethal
tricks such as spewing jets of acid, knocking us from our feet and biting with
their tremendous jaws, but we were no longer neophyte beginners but seasoned survivors
in the West Marches. Nadia laid waste to the insects, plying her deadly bow and
bhuj with equal aplomb. I struck them
with bolts of fire while Larry tolled them with his dismal bell. Borin and Narc set to with their weapons while
Gigi soused them with her Aledritch blasts, soon the three were slain. We were
somewhat hurt but Borin summoned a mighty healing that did much to restore our
bodies. Larry examined the ankheg and determined each had a crystal
embedded in their body. Some of the shards
were the size of daggers and I took one of them for it seemed to have curious
properties, not unlike the shadow blade I occasionally conjure. We determined to enter the Ankheg tunnel to
see what we could learn. Our path through the tunnels was aided with a rope and we
reached the bottom without incident. We
could see the great smoking meteor had landed in what looked to be an Ankheg
cave complex. The fallen star was large
and drips of molten crystal oozed out of it and onto the ground, though it was
clear by the rate of fall that something was periodically harvesting the output. For the next while we wended our way through a maze of
tunnels, fighting off Ankhegs of different sizes, all with crystals embedded. Borin
was an exemplar of healing throughout, his blessings seemed somehow magnified by
the crystals for we would all have been dead save for his mighty blessings. Down one tunnel we rescued a young woman who’d been captured
by the ankheg and dragged into their lair.
Roslin was her name and she too had a crystal embedded in her which Nadia
skillfully removed. She told us the crystal
was speaking to her and that a voice was compelling her to evil acts though she
had resisted the call. We escorted Roslin
to the exit, more determined than ever to solve this perturbing mystery. Of Iscoval there had been no sign though we found the egg
chamber of the Ankhegs and defeated their half grown ankheg guardians. Nadia was most concerned for the eggs but
thankfully they had not been interfered with.
Truth to tell, my sympathy for the beasts was lacking. We chose a tunnel heading South and here our luck turned sour
for we not only found Isoval but he chose that precise moment to succumb to the
evils of the crystal shard (of which he informed us even as he called for our
aid). We charged forward into the teeth of two fireball spells, for
he was a wizard of some accomplishment.
I found it ironic that I, a child of dragonfire should be on the
receiving end of such treatment. By Sune’s
grace we all survived, though it was nearly the end for poor Narc and I gave
him a healing potion to keep him alive. The wizard still had some tricks for he was invisible, though
not for long after Nadia got close to him and somehow sensed his presence. She plied the flat end of her bhuj, trying to
knock Iscoval unsconsious but the wizard proved tough to down, even as more and
more of my companions joined the fray.
When near death the wizard pulled a final trick, employing a misty
step to flee the combat. Narc
spotted the direction he was headed but lost him in the darkness. I charged in the direction he indicated and cast
a sleep spell centred at the limit of my vision. We heard a satisfying thud as his unconscious
body struck the ground. We quickly went to the body and removed the crystal shard,
thus restoring his sanity. Iscovarl
thanked us profusely but declined to join us in ending this evil. He had little
useful to tell us except that the strange voice was determined to have crystals
put into all creatures in the region so they should fall under its
control. He also mentioned that the
Ankheg could somehow ‘swim’ through the meteor and enter its interior. After telling us what he could, he returned to the surface to
join Torvain, Roslin and our mounts. We continued down another passage and found a passage filled
with suspended globes of what proved to be acid as poor Nadia discovered. We were also attacked by another Ankheg,
which we hurt grievously before it fled.
We were growing truly weary now but had to press on. Yet another tunnel yielded a room with a
great pool of acid. Our investigation discovered
a magic potion lay at the bottom the pool which I was able to retrieve with a mage
hand spell. Sagacious Larry determined it to be a potion of hill giant strength,
a useful find. We had exhausted the tunnel
system but were no closer to the source of the evil. Returning to the fallen star I posited that
we would be able to enter the rock if we too embedded crystal slivers into our
flesh. Borin volunteered to test this theory
and proved it to be correct. We took stock of our situation; low on spells, many of use injured,
and decided to rest to recover our strength, but how to do so safely? Nadia had the answer, she cast a spell I’d
never seen before, a rope trick which created an extradimensional pocket
of safety. We rested here and soon learned that there was danger in having the
crystal in your flesh for too long because Borin could feel it’s
influence. We removed the shard until such
time as we were all ready to enter. With our rest completed we carefully inserted shards into our
flesh, a painful process to be sure. To
our misfortune this caused Larry to lose concentration on the bless
spell he’d cast on us all. Disappointed
but not disheartened we carefully pushed through the rock of the meteor, a
sensation akin to swimming through water.
We soon found the centre of the star was hollow and a litany of horrors
waited there in greeting. We saw a
great horde of Ankheg of different sizes including an enormous queen. More importantly we saw a large floating
crystal, perhaps the source of this evil? That is enough for today, be sure to come back to the Stuck
Pig tomorrow if you want to hear of the rest!
May Sune shine her beatific countenance on you all!
