Alair - Holy Wars |
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Egia turned back to the onrushing horde of skeletons and raised the flower of Belisama once more. Once again, dust and chips of bone flew in all directions as the radiating force of her faith shattered more of the unnaturally animated skeletons. This time, however, three evaded the effects and closed with the three adventurers. Reversing her grip on Sunrazor, Egia lashed out with the flat of the blade, aware that edges and points had only minimal effects on skeletal undead. Two strikes smashed the skeletons attacking her and Ghlaads to fragments. Meanwhile, Hougaard had destroyed his bony attacker with a single two-handed punch and kept moving, plunging down the slope slightly ahead of Egia to launch himself at the next wave of attackers.
And so they moved steadily down the slope of the graveyard, Egia crumbling the skeletons to powder with the hammer of her faith, Hougard leaping, spinning and striking; punching, kicking and headbutting to break revenant after revenant from their path. Finally no more of the risen dead stood between them and the graveyard gate, more than eighty of the things destroyed by the heroes. With a rush, the three exited the graveyard, the last few skeletons returning mindlessly to their graves, their orders evidently not including pursuit beyond the borders of the graveyard.
In the mud near the gate were the four sets of tracks they were expecting, emerging from the graveyard and striking off due east as straight as an arrow. Gathering their equipment, the three set off in pursuit, Hougaard tracking as they went. Half an hour before dawn, Ghlaads happened to look up and see two rapidly receding humanoid figures silhouetted against the disk of one of the moons. Shortly after that, the tracks dwindled to two sets of paw-prints.
Four hours after dawn, the three peered cautiously over the lip of a shallow dell on the sides of a hill. A stream ran chuckling across stones through it and a couple of trees shaded the bank. Under one of them stood two muscular men, stark naked and apparently unbothered by it. They were drinking from improvised cups; nearby, the corpse of a goat, horribly torn and chewed, sprawled on the grass. A few cuts of meat had been seperated and wrapped in leaves.
Hougaard slid back from the edge. "We could tackle them now," he said, "but we'd lose the trail." Egia shook her head. "We want to get the Maculate not the doggies," she agreed. "Let's wait here until they set out, then track them to where they go." This decided, they rested while the werewolves did, then followed after the lycanthropes had shifted back and left the dell.
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Late in the afternoon, a smudge on the horizon gradually resolved itself to a forest, dark and tangled. No paths or roads were visible, but the tracks of the two werewolves were clearly visible heading straight in between the trees. Nothing loth, the three plunged in after them.
After following the tracks through the forest for some time, the heroes began to notice outcrops of rock among the trees. Aft first these looked natural, but after a while, they started to notice that the stone buried under the trees and undergrowth had once - a very long time ago - been dressed and laid. As they progressed deeper into the forest in the fading light, it became more apparent that before the forest had been here, a fair-sized city had been here. The sound of running water brought them to a river, bridged by an ancient but still hale span of blurred, crumbling stone. Beyond, more light could be seen, indicating some kind of clearing among the trees, and faint voices could be heard from that direction.
 DM Note: Venforvyr's treasure:Potions Enlarge (5th) Spider Climb (1st) Cloak: The Fortress of the Mind +2 to Will saves, +4 to Will saves vs psionic attacks or powers. Also a cloakfighter's weapon. Ring; Jeran's Intransigence The wearer of this ring is continually immune to detect thoughts, discern lies, and any attempt to magically discern his or her alignment. Wristband; Neidric's Encouragement Made at level 5 so affects 5 people, +2 Strength +2 Dexterity +2 Ride and +5d4 hit points, for 5 rounds, three times a day. |
"Should we wait for dawn?" asked Egia. "Where would be safe?" asked Hougaard rhetorically. "Let's get this done." Ghlaads agreed, and they advanced cautiously until they could see into the clearing.
An area larger than a house had been cleared, and the footings for a modest building marked out. Some of the framework and a few pieces of plank wall had been constructed. On the far side of the clearing, wide, broken steps led up to what had once been a very substantial stone building - maybe a palace - now little more than odd walls and broken columns receding into the forest. Between the two was a heap of tools and building materials, felled trees and sawn planks. Manacled around one of the tree trunks were a score or so of dirty, ragged, battered, despairing looking humans - presumably the workers who had been building whatever the structure was. One of the two werewolves they had pursued, back in his human form, stood on the stone steps at the far side of the clearing, looking over the trees to the west, apparently watching the sun set.
The three withdrew into the forest and carefully circled the clearing clockwise until they were just adjacent to the big building. Before approaching any closer, Egia recast her Bless Weapon spells, and topped off with Protection from Evil, while Ghlaads added two Greater Mage Armour and a Stoneskin for herself, as well as a quick Identify on the loot from Venforvyr. Then they re-approached the clearing.
Nothing significant had changed, but from this angle they were better able to see into the embryonic building. At the western end, against the largest completed section of wall, stood a raised area of ground, upon which rested a large rectangular block of stone. All three had had enough to do with religion that the word altar leaped straight at the front of their minds. This altar was in marked contrast to the rest of the building; where the structure was fresh wood that could have been made yesterday, the altar was ancient, eroded by centuries of exposure to the elements, its' carvings blurred and indistinct. Atop it rested two golden candlesticks holding fat black candles, and between them a glass goblet filled with a dark, rich red fluid that - somehow - Egia knew was not wine.
Hougaard gathered everyone close and invoked the power of Neidric's Encouragement. Instantly, all three felt stronger and faster and (for some reason) better prepared to control a steed. Wasting no time, they went into action. Ghlaads remained at the edge of the clearing to provide support. Hougaard slipped into the palace from the side, working his way around the back of the standing werewolf, while Egia took off at a run across the clearing and into the building, heading directly for the altar, deliberately making as much noise as she could. The werewolf's head whipped around to stare at Egia, and with a twitch the skin over his entire body began to ripple and shift. It was the first time any of them had seen the actual change, and a shiver of revulsion passed through them at the agonizing crackles of shifting bone and muscle as the man's body broke apart and remade itself as a different being. In a moment it was done, and a huge black wolf stood there, panting from the residual pain and watching Egia run with blazing green eyes. Before it could move, the Unfettered of Lyr was upon it. A punch and a kick scored on it as it stood there, but it declined to turn and face him, moving forwards towards the paladin of Belisama instead. Hougaard got another blow in, then was left behind as the massive wolf streaked away, faster than even he could run, towards his friend.
Half-way across the intervening space a massive ball of flame blossomed around it as Ghlaads hit it with an Empowered Fireball. Driven with the power of a much greater spell, the Fireball burned hotter than a regular one, and the wolf growled with pain as it was scorched by the roaring flames. A moment later, though, it emerged at the far side, trailing smoke and still on fire in one or two places, closed the remaining distance and hurled itself upon Egia.
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The paladin had drawn back her arm to strike at the altar's contents, but the blast of the Fireball had alerted her to something happening behind her. Swinging Sunrazor in a wide arc, she slashed the candlesticks and goblet to fragments, spraying a gout of gore across the stone surface, and coming to face the wolf as it bounded into the air towards her. As she did so, she felt a wash of evil power released by the altar in response to her presence scour her skin with pain. Then the wolf was upon her, horrifyingly fast, an avalanche of teeth and claws. Razor teeth shrieked across her armour seeking her vitals, but she rolled with the attack and struck twice, delivering wounds that should have slain a normal wolf. As the beast staggered, Ghlaads launched an Orb of Force at it, tearing it almost completely in half. As it shimmered and began to change back into the horribly ripped body of a dead man, Egia leaned across and carved its' head off - then abruptly threw Sunrazor across the clearing.
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Meanwhile, back at the palace, a second wolf had bounded over the far wall of the palace at Hougaard. Twisting desperately, he brought his arms up to intercept the beast's front legs, producing a nasty crunch as he crushed them together. Landing beyond him, it spun, preparing to leap again. At that moment, Sunrazor smashed into it, knocking it backwards. Hougaard followed it, stamping on a foreleg and breaking it before punching it twice in the chest. He heard ribs splinter, and blood gushed from the wolf's mouth, it stumbled sideways, and fell.
Recovering their breath, the three went to look at the altar. All felt deeply unwelcome; the whole area radiated an aura of inimical spirit, and the reason was carved onto the crumbling block - the name of Cain. Though not a true deity, the dark reverence accorded him by most vampires was enough to stain any place sanctified to his worship with evil. At Egia's urging, Ghlaads used a Stone Shape to flow the altar into a wide, thin flat piece of stone that the others easily smashed to fragments. The oppressive sensation lifted at once, but they scattered the pieces into the forest to make sure.
Turning their attention to the prisoners, they spoke with them, reassuring them while checking for signs of vampirism. None were more than they seemed - though some had been fed upon - being kept to work on the temple of Cain whose construction had just been so rudely interrupted. "Did two more vampires come in last night?" asked Hougaard. "No," said a prisoner, to his bafflement, "there are just the usual three here. They're in the palace somewhere - that's where they go at night." Ghlaads whispered to her friends. "If we release them, they'll flee west - and run into the two Maculate from the tower coming the other way." Hougaard nodded and unpacked some rations from his bag, distributing them among the captives. "Stay here, and keep quiet," he said calmly to them. "We can protect you here, but if you try and get away they'll get you." Glancing at the two slain werewolves, the prisoners seemed to accept the heroes' credentials as protectors, and were only too glad to assist in building a huge bonfire, mostly from the part-built temple, the sawn wood materials for it and the tools they'd been working with. Egia had them cut long branches and tip them with spikes, little help though those would be against the Maculate. Far more use were the wild garlic bulbs the Unfettered had directed them to harvest. Ghlaads brewed a sticky paste of the stuff and it was smeared on the spears.
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Egia shucked her Nhasedan disguise and openly displayed her Triad insignia, feeling considerable relief at ending the charade, even if only for a while. Blessing some water, she distrbuted it among the prisoners as additional protection. Most looked with surprised gratitude - recently conqurered Stryrans from Turil and still faithful to the Triad in their hearts - others, captured locally, lowered their brows and looked uncomfortable to be rescued by a 'heretic'.
While this was happening, Hougaard took a look inside the palace. It went back into the trees as far as he could see, and somehow the area within the remnants of its' walls was darker than it should have been - not the inky blackness of magical Darkness but a deeper shade of shadow. He grinned and unpacked a small bag of caltops. Smearing their evil little points with garlic paste, he scattered them across the palace floor and stairs before returning to the clearing as the light began to fail.
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Session Date: 20th April 2013 |
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