In which
sacrifices are made Book Two, Chapter 4.1 (session 81, 26 th March
2019) The Party: Naergon Harna, elven wizard (Diviner) Mads Rangle, human fighter/warlock (Fiend: Archdevil
Zariel) Jamna Gleamsilver, gnome rogue (Arcane Trickster) Tomaz Stormwind, human ranger (Hunter) Druscilla Oakenrock, dwarven cleric (Trickery: Mask) Talis Wintercrest, half-elven cleric (War: Bane) The Naergons move the animated spikes across to attack
the dragonwing sergeant who screams as the spikes hammer into him from all
directions. The Naergons then move west onto the path and fire bolts one of the
dragonclaws advancing on Talis, the bolt strikes it in the neck and it falls to
the floor, smoke drifting from its ears and eye sockets. Tomaz stands up from
his hiding place in the smouldering scrub and shoots the drake that is charging
toward Druscilla both bolts sinking into its shoulder and its charge turns into
a headlong tumble through the gorse as it comes to a shuddering halt at the
ranger’s feet. Tomaz then moves back onto the path to stand beside the
Naergons. The dragonclaw in the north hesitates to advance into the swirling
mass of spirit guardians surrounding Talis, instead opting to shoot at her but
its bolt flies wide. Talis moves forward up the path to ensure that the
dragonfang and dragonclaw are inside her fiendish aura. In her head she hears a
cold harsh voice scream “ Get closer, what
are you doing women?” her arm jerks forward Hazirawn pointing at the
cultists. Jamna scrambles out of the smoking gorse and heather onto the path
and shoots at the drake fighting Mads but misses. Mads swings his glaive,
cutting deeply into the left shoulder, reverses and cuts into the right
shoulder then with a flourish cracks the butt across it skull, the drake
collapse with a whimper and a shudder to convulse and die at his feet. Mads
steps away up the path towards the dragonwing. Over in the gorse the last drake
charges through the undergrowth, snarling and slavering as it closes in on
Druscilla. The dragonfang officer wades through the fiendish aura surrounding
Talis, the fiends raking him as he stabs at Talis but the cleric weaves and
ducks avoiding the attacks. In her head she hears Hazirawn scream “ at last, come to me, I’m thirsty, so
thirsty” and then “ will you stand
still women, fight don’t dodge aside, I need to drink!” The dragonwing in
the north attempts to swat the animated spikes out of the air, waving his sword
desperately he manages to slam one of the spikes into the ground [critical].
Druscilla drops her crossbow and draws her rod of lordly might (battleaxe) and chops
into the head and shoulder of the charging drake. The animated spikes continue to hammer at the dragonwing
who collapses under the storm, screaming and jerking as the spikes nail him
into the ground. The Naergons, unable to get a bead on the cultists fighting
Talis turn and fire bolts the drake fighting Druscilla, the bolt burns into its
flank, it roars and chitters, slavering in a frenzy. Tomaz also shoots the
drake, both bolts slamming home into the shrieking and roaring monstrosity
which convulses and drops into the still smouldering gorse. The remaining
dragonclaw, caught in the fiendish aura, attempts to close on Talis but is
shredded and dragged to the ground by her demonic spirits to die shuddering and
screaming on the path in front of her. In her head Talis hears the sword scream
“ that one was mine, you deny me my
rewards and pleasure, I thirst, I thirst ” as she swings the blade into the
dragonfang, cleaving him through the shoulder, black mist is sucked from the
wound as the cultist screams and the sword howls with glee (in Talis’s head).
Jamna shoots at the dragonfang from behind Talis. The arrow slips in over his
armoured collar under his chin and out of the back of his head. The dragonfang
drops soundlessly, whilst in Talis’s head Hazirawn screams “no, no, no that was mine, you take my drink, you steal my purpose,
find me something to kill .” As the party gather their belongings, stripping cultists
for additional crossbow bolts and other useful gear, making sure the bodies are
off the path and out of immediate sight, Tomaz says “ we should consider making camp here, if the intent is to rest before we
make our final assault?” “What here?” cries Talis “we’re clinging to the
side of a volcano, there’s hardly any cover and what there is, is smouldering
and smoking. Someone will be along to investigate that I’d think. We should
move and move with purpose, we need to get off the side of this damn mountain
and into the tunnels as soon as possible.” “But I can camouflage the hut and
hide us” counters Tomaz. Mads watches this exchange and then turns to Naergon “ do you still speak to Snapjaw?” “Eh, what?”
croaks Naergon, taken aback at the sudden question “ no, not recently. Why?” “Oh, I was just wondering if he would want any
part of this fight?” says Mads, looking out over the cliff to the
desolation. In the distance amidst the dust and haze comes the
occasional flicker of lightning or the bloom of a fireball where the armies of
the cult engage those of Neverember. Turning he continues “ Snapjaw and his clan, should they be here? If this is it, the last
throw would he not want to be involved?” “What?” splutters Naergon in
surprise “ no, they’d just get massacred!”
Tomaz turns from his argument with Talis “ and it would take them quite a while to get here” Mads turns from the plain and looks at Naergon “ I’m assuming we’re all going to get massacred,
if it was me I’d rather die fighting than end up on Tiamat’s slave world.” “No,
no, it’s not fair and there’s no time anyway” says Naergon “ let them have their peace for while it
lasts, this is not their task, it’s ours.” “Oh!” mutters Mads “I didn’t realise that ‘fair’ was now a
thing. But you’re right, it’s not!” Tomaz steps away from Talis towards Mads and Naergon “ so, what do you reckon, make camp here and
press on in the morning? Make a dawn raid on the Well?” Druscilla chimes in
“ I thought we’d climb as high as we
could, try and locate the entrances before we took a rest. I don’t think we
want to be hanging out on the side of this mountain” she looks up to the
summit where dragons continue to circle “all-in-all, I’d rather be underground” “I agree” says Mads. “Naergon, you should decide” says Mads. “ Eh? Decide what?” asks the wizard rather
distractedly. “Whether we stay here and
camp as Tomaz suggests or whether we push on as Druscilla and I think” he
looks over to Talis, sitting on a rock, sword in her lap and a far-away
expression on her face “ I think Talis is
for pushing on, or maybe it’s the sword it’s not clear to me if the sword gets
a vote.” “Oh, I see” says Naergon “ push
on I say.” “ Oh ok then” says
Tomaz. Naergon turns with a conciliatory gesture “ I hear what you say Tomaz, it’s not personal but there might be more
patrols ahead and I’d rather be past them before we rest.” “Absolutely”
growls Druscilla “ we need to be off the
mountain and safe inside it before we rest” “Safe?” queries Mads quietly. With that the party head on up the path, climbing and
twisting up the side of the volcano for another hour or more, they finally
encounter the end of the scrub line. Above them only shattered barren rock and
scree extends up to the near vertical sides of the caldera. They can see the
path worm its way up the and disappear into a dark tunnel entrance several hundred
feet above them, before that the path branches and snakes off to the east and
out of sight around one of the huge blades of jagged rock that juts out from
the caldera wall. Hunkering down and finding some concealment in the
straggly gorse and scrub they observe the slopes ahead, poking above the
caldera wall they can make out the tip of some massive, jagged black spikes or
towers rising out of the centre of the well. In the air above the caldera there
is a constant play of dozens of dragons, swooping and gliding in the hot
thermals. Druscilla says “I’m for taking
a walk along that other path, see what’s behind that rock outcrop, maybe
there’s a back way in .” Mads turns and lies back in the spiky gorse “ that’s a good idea Druscilla but I was
thinking rather than us clambering over that open scree under those dragons,
that I could send Ringo. He can scout around invisibly for us and report back.
Unless you have some arcane eye or similar magic available Naergon?” “I think
that’s a good plan Mads, my arcane eye is limited and perhaps better deployed
in scouting the tunnels. Let’s get it done!” Mads, clicks his fingers and summons Ringo and then sends
him off to scout around the caldera. It takes the flying imp an hour or so to
scout around and return. He reports back to Mads that there are several other
entrances, two more lie on the north-east shoulder. To the south-east there is
a whole other path that seems to spiral down the southern face of the volcano,
it also splits and there are two entrances on the eastern flank and another on
the southern. Finally over on the south-western slope there is another path and
entrance, very overgrown and looks unused. Mads pushes him for more detail, the imp says that he
couldn’t see if there were guards at the tunnel entrances, he did not want to
get to close. However there was a lot of traffic and movement around the southern
entrance, the entrances to the north-east and east had much less activity
around them. But definitely the south-western one looked unused, he could
detect no people in that area at all. He continues saying “ I snuck inside, it’s long and dark and doesn’t smell of people – though
there was tangy iron blood at the entrance. No light and no warmth, it felt
empty, cold and dark, too cold not nice like home, this volcano seems dead, you
should light it then we could stay here?” Mads turns to the group “ I think we should try and circle round and try this abandoned path and
entrance” “That will be rough going” says Tomaz “ it’s several miles, we’ll be lucky to get there before nightfall. I
wouldn’t want to be stranded up here, on the slopes at night. It will get cold
and harsh.” “I agree” says Naergon “It might be a tough walk but it has to be
our best option and I absolutely want to be off this mountain by nightfall.” “ Let’s get going then” growls Druscilla,
hefting pack and crossbow and standing up “ sitting
here ain’t getting it done!” Tomaz grumbles “ very
well but it’s probably unused for a reason. Abandoned tunnels in my experience
are never as abandoned as one would think” “That’s as maybe ” says Druscilla
“ more likely this lot don’t know it’s
there. This is the new lot not the old lot, ‘sides humans couldn’t find a
tunnel with torch. I’m for exploring, get your stuff packed.” Tomaz starts
to get his gear together “ the cult’s been
using this place for centuries just because the new lot ain’t using t don’t
mean the old lot aren’t. Dark, cold and empty maybe don’t mean so much to a
lich or a wight.” “Fair point ” grumbles Talis “ but does it make a difference, it’s our best shot at getting inside
without a fight” “You say that ” retorts Tomaz “ but it’s probably the most dangerous one, trapped to the hells and back
with Torm knows what lurking inside ” Talis looks down at her sword and frowns before saying “ yes I know but apparently he’s entitled to
speak ” she then looks back at Tomaz “ yes
or no? I understand the why and the risk but which do you think would be
better? No, not you, not talking to you anymore. Tomaz which would be better?”
Tomaz leans on his spear “I . . . I . . .
I’ll defer to the rest of you but I, I just . . .” “Right!” interrupts
Talis “ I’ll take that as an answer.”
And gets up, turns on her heel and starts walking away asking “ Naergon, what are we doing?” “We go to the
abandoned tunnel” Naergon says. “ Right
then, let’s go” says Talis “ with luck
we’ll find something to kill on the way. . . . No, calm down, we’ll need him
later. . . Stop it! If you’re really lucky he’ll be right. . . . What do you
mean you don’t like the taste . . . .?
Oh undead, yeah I can see that I guess”. Her one-sided conversation fades
away as she walks off, Druscilla following. Mads, Jamna and Naergon gather
their gear and follow, trailed by Tomaz still mumbling “ abandoned never means abandoned, I’m telling you”. After another hour or two of criss-crossing around
traversing the steep and treacherous western slope of the volcano, the party
emerges onto a narrow path, carved into the side of a long bladelike outcrop of
rock, the vertical cliff on their left only matched by the precipitous drop
down a near vertical scree slope to their right. After several minutes
scrambling along this narrow ledge they come to a dark hole in the caldera
wall, the entrance to one of the ancient lava tubes no doubt. Around the entrance there are numbers of scattered bones,
mostly semi-dismembered skeletons – humanoid by the look of it. There is a
great deal of very old, very dried up blood on the rocks around the entrance.
Tomaz says “yeah blood and bones. That
screams abandoned that does!” Standing at the edge of the entrance the air
smells dry, cold and musty, Mads turns “ maybe
Tomaz, maybe but there sure don’t seem to be any cultists around, so let’s be a
bit glass half full should we? Naergon are you going to erect your hut out
here? Or do you want to push on and see what’s inside first?” Naergon looks
around, peers over the precipitous drop and up at the jagged ridges and ledges
above “ yes, we should rest here but just
inside a bit, under cover.” With that, Naergon settles down to ritually cast
Leomund’s Tiny Hut. Once settled in for the evening Mads turns to Tomaz and
asks “ so what’s your goal here ?”
Tomaz looks over “ doing what I’ve been
asked to, bring this ritual to an end” “Ok ” nods Mads “ but how will you know when you’ve finished?” Tomaz pauses for a
moment “ err, either all the cultists are
dead or Tiamat is dead.” Mads considers this “ what if Tiamat isn’t brought back?” Tomaz repeats “ then all the cultists will be dead.”
Mads raises an eyebrow “ so it’s your
intention to stay on the field of battle until every last cultist is dead?” “Err,
well, all the ones that have the ability to conduct the ritual at least ”
clarifies Tomaz. Mads nods “ and how will
you know which ones that is?” “I imagine they will be the elven, magic user
types ” says Tomaz rather vaguely. “ So,
your goal is to kill every elf in the cult?” “Yes !” says Tomaz gruffly “ any cultist that looks likely to be a
spellcaster.” “OK and you’re going to stay here until that’s done right?” pushes
Mads. “ Well, until, yes, err that is
until I reckon the job is done, yes ” mutters Tomaz. Mads turns to Druscilla “ same question, what’s your goal and will you know when to stop doing
what you’re doing?” Druscilla looks up from polishing her armour “ when they all run away or are feeding the crows
will do but we have to stop the ritual. Whatever that takes, smashing things,
killing people, whatever. We’re done when the ritual is stopped and cannot restart .”
Mads sits back “ hmmm, that could take a
long time couldn’t it? That could take like weeks?” Druscilla nods gravely “ it could, whatever it takes is what it takes”
“Naergon” asks Mads prodding the wizard
with his boot. “H uh what, what’s the problem?”
grumbles a distracted Naergon. “ No
problem ” continues Mads “I Was just
wondering when will you know when your job was done. Same question I’ve asked the
others .” Naergon looks at him “ err,
well, hmm. To be honest it’s a tricky one. I can’t answer that right now. It
may become apparent and then it might not. Ultimately, I don’t know. It’s a bit
tricky but basically if you look around and I’m not there anymore then you will
know that I have decided that the job is done.” Mads cocks his head chuckles
“ brilliant, most helpful as usual. Thanks .”
Naergon looks at him sharply “ it makes
sense does it not? Anyway, you have interrupted my train of thought enough for
now, I have matters to contemplate, leave me be .” Mads
turns away shaking his head “ Talis, same
question, what’s your goal and when will you know you’ve achieved it?” Talis
continues staring past him as if listening to something else entirely, the
corners of her mouth twitches and she breathes “ no not yet, surely. . . Well
maybe .” Mads reaches over and shakes her shoulder “ Talis?” “Huh? What?” she grunts eyes focusing on mads at last. “ I said what’s your goal and when will you
accomplish it?” repeats Mads “ for
example is stopping the ritual enough or do you want to slaughter everyone in
here? Do you want to kill one specific person and then you’re done?” Talis
leans forward “ I really wanted to kill
Rezmir but that opportunity is behind us ” she glares at Tomaz and fingers
the hilt of Hazirawn. “ You’ve done that ”
says Naergon, Talis looks over “ oh! I can
go then! I guess I’m done, is that what you’re saying?” “No, no !”
interrupts Mads. “ No, it’s a fair point Mads,
that was my goal, why am I still here?” There’s
an uncomfortable silence, Talis looks to be listening intently to something whilst
Mads flounders for something to offer the cleric. “ There’s always that yes” she mutters under her breath and then
looks at Mads “ I guess we need to kill Severin.
There’s a ritual right, he’s leading it? So, stopping that ritual.” She
looks around at the gathered party “I
thought you all had a purpose, I thought you were her to stop Tiamat
transcending to the prime material? To do that we have to stop this ritual
right?” Mads nods “ In essence yes, I think
that’s our common goal.” Talis
glances sideways “yes I thought so, you
understand that bringing Tiamat here was never truly my intention? I was never
that interested in their weird religion I just wanted the power that went with
the position of wyrmspeaker. That’s never happening for me now, so the idea of
Tiamat lording over us is less appealing then ever. I guess the goal is no
Tiamat and I expect that means we need to kill Severin. I mean if we stop this
ritual and he survives he’ll only try again and again. Mages are like that
persistent, single minded and driven.” Both Talis and Mads glance sideways
at Naergon, deep in concentration on some ancient manuscript he’s pulled from
his pack, mads nods slowly. After
a while Mads asks “ who intends to be in the
fight? I mean close and personal ?” Druscilla looks up “ I’d prefer to keep what distance I can but I’m not ruling it out, why ”
Mads continues looking around, Talis strokes the long black blade of Hazirawn
she cradles in her lamp and breathes “ I
think that that will be kind of inevitable .” Mads grins, leans across and
passes her a potion from his pack “ that’s
the spirit, this might come in handy then ” [potion of fire giant strength].
Mads looks around “ Druscilla, do you have
any potions?” she looks up “ no, no I
don’t.” Mads reaches across and hands her a potion “ I think this might be useful. If one of us needs to be kept alive or
brought back then that’s on you, so it’s in my interest to preserve your life. This
can get you out of trouble. If you’re alive we’re all alive ” [potion of
gaseous form]. After
a few more minutes of rummaging in his bag, mads looks up and asks “ did anyone want to put this clockwork mule
together? ” Tomaz sniffs “ we needed a
technically minded dwarf to do that ” he says dismissively. Druscilla looks
across “ why would we need it Mads?” “Oh,
I was just looking at stuff we haven’t used and thinking if this is our last
fight, then maybe we should just use what we have. I’d like to see the
clockwork mule in action before I die ” and then in a whisper “ or end up in the hells for another century”.
“That’s tad morbid” grumbles Druscilla “ but
I get your point. I’ve been reading the instructions on and off now for a
while, we’ve got time before dawn. Let’s put it together, no harm in it and it
might be useful, you never know!”