Thykon

Somewhere Else, Probably 28th April 1655

DM Note: No Gordon or Jay this week, so both Lynien and Uruk were bubbled.

A couple of spells from Bog eased the worst of Uruk's injuries, though he was pale and shaking from the effects of the demon poison. Then the warriors descended, to find Méabh waiting on the central platform of the lowest level.

"What happened up there?" she asked, gesturing up the stairs. "We broke it," commented Eloy insouciantly. Méabh glowered. "What, the crystal pyramid?" she asked sharply. Eloy shook his head. "No, the actual pyramid. The roof fell in. We made quite a mess of it."

The three companions then exchanged stories of what had happened since they seperated. Méabh sighed. "The crystal pyramid isn't broken then; when you broke the last one it made a very distinctive noise and you don't remember hearing that this time. It's well buried, though, by the sound of it; and the powerstones are smashed so there's no way to power it. A pity - it's probably one of the most valuable magical items in the world."

Given the fairly obvious trail of residual magic left by their quarry, the logical next course was to pursue him down the passage. Certainly there was no returning the way they'd come; the top of the spiral stairs was choked with rubble and dust. With Eloy in the lead, they headed down the corridor, Bereloth scanning for secret doors while Eloy searched for traps.

As they progressed they became gradually aware of a light at the far end of the passage, a faint sound of crackling energy not unlike that of the powerstones, and a harsh, pungent, acrid smell. Wondering what this betokened, they pressed on until they reached the end of the corridor.

Beyond that was a huge chamber, five hundred feet by three hundred and fifty. Presumably once the tomb of the unfortunate Anshenkehra, the space had undergone considerable modification.

The passage they were in led onto a 10' wide ledge or catwalk, which ran all around the edges of the room. Below that was a twenty-foot drop onto an uneven surface which appeared to be made of gold. A closer look revealed that it was one fused, amorphous mass, although vague, blurred shapes similar to coins, statues, weapons, and other decorations were visible. At a guess, it looked as if the entire accessible gold treasure of the pyramid had been heaped up and then softened or melted until its' shape began to soften.

Directly above the centre of the golden mass, suspended around a hundred and fifity feet up, was a transparent ball for energy, hovering in mid-air. Flickering tendrils of force flowed from this into the air, and it was these causing the crackling noise. Suspended within the ball, turning gently and occasionally moving in a spasmodic fashion, was a mummy.

DM Note: I muffed the description here, and missed mentioning the familiar until around round five. It was touch and go whether the players lynched me or the hawk first.

At the far end of the hall, the catwalk opened out into a platform big enough for a house - and indeed there was a wooden house built on it, in a modern style, a jarring contrast to everything they'd seen so far. A flight of steps led down from it to the golden pool below, and more steps led from the platform to the house door. On those steps stood a figure. Tall, even for a human, and armoured from head to foot in blood-red steel armour, and wrapped in a deep red cloak, the man had a massive greatsword jutting up over his left shoulder. A bird, like a hawk but red as the blood of his master's name, orbited a few feet over his shoulder. No-one was in any doubt that this was their quarry; the man who had hired them and sent them into the Trakar on a fool's errand, who collected weapons of power and exhibited war, horror and death for entertainment. The Blood Snake.

The tension was broken by Eloy giving him a cheery, cheeky little wave. Next to him, Gorfang called across the space. "Would you like us to stop pursuing you and breaking things?" he shouted. The acoustics of the great space were excellent; his voice rolled around loudly and it was clear the Blood Snake could hear him. Eloy and Gorfang started to stroll casually around the catwalk, one to a side; Méabh remained in the shadows of the entrance, considering her options. Then the Blood Snake spoke for the first time.

"It doesn't look as if you are going to go away, and you have certainly proved most efficient vandals," he commented, his clearly audible voice tinted with a peculiar and unplacable accent - but no trace of fear. "What is it that you want?"

Méabh quietly cast the spell Message, aiming it at the imprisoned mummy.

"There are two weapons that we want," said Gorfang. "Give us those and we'll leave you alone." The red figure shook it's head. "I would perhaps have traded one of my treasured collection for peace and quiet," he said. "Two, however, is asking too much. But I am remiss; we haven't introduced ourselves. I, as you doubtless know, am Thykon, sometimes known as the Blood Snake. You I know by reputation and description, but I would know your names."

All three were instantly on their guard. Was he preparing some kind of magic working through the power of names? His voice didn't sound as if he was, but both Gorfang and Eloy decided to play safe. "I am an orc that wants an axe," said Gorfang. "Sabath," said Eloy laconically. The red gaze flicked to him. "Archer you may be," he said, referring to the arrow Eloy had hit him with at the Powerstones, "but forgotten dark God of a lost land you are not." He turned back to Gorfang. "I know which axe you seek," he said calmly. "It is well cared for. I polish it every day that I am here." Both Eloy and Méabh could hear Gorfang's teeth grind; what an insult to an orcish weapon - keeping it clean! Like some ... ornament that had never taken a life! An insult to the memory of the mighty warriors who had borne it before.

Meanwhile, Méabh's spell had put her in partial touch with the mummy suspended above their heads. Communication was difficult, as it appeared to be struggling to speak through waves of pain and coercion. "I'm here to help," she began.

(pain....prisoner....slavery...anger...)

"How can I free you?" she demanded.

(slay....monster/intruder/captor....free me....)

"How?"

(slay....monster/intruder/captor....free me....)

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eloy preparing to launch an arrow at the globe of force. Flicking the Message to connect to him, she spoke again. "Don't. He's a prisoner and a potential ally." Eloy appeared troubled, but complied. Méabh linked Gorfang to her Message as well. "I assume you're going to shoot at him in a moment," she said. "I'll try and distract him; wait for that."

The Blood Snake held up a hand. "That's far enough," he declared. "Now, I am willing to discuss trade of a -" Gorfang cut him off. "Give us the two we want, and keep the rest, or we kill you, and take the lot," he stated flatly, his red eyes seething with anger.

Then Méabh cast her Distract cantrip. The tiniest of magics, almost imperceptible, it made a tiny flicker of attention-grabbing movement near her feet. Eloy and Gorfang were looking the other way, so it didn't affect them, but just for a second, Thykon glanced at it. It was enough.

Gorfang and Eloy launched arrows; Eloy stood his ground and shot twice, whereas Gorfang broke into a run and contented himself with one arrow. Paradoxically, it was the orc's arrow - poison notwithstanding - that struck home, drawing blood from Thykon to flow over his blood-red armour. Eloy recommenced moving along the catwalk at a fast walk.

Méabh sprinted to the edge of the catwalk, lowered herself over the edge to hang from her hands, and dropped onto the uneven, damp surface of the distorted gold. A few seconds later, she realized that thin tendrils of smoke were rising from the soles of her boots, and the acrid, chemical smell suddenly made sense. The gold was smeared with acid! Quickly, she cast an Endure Elements to shield herself from the worst of the effects.

Recovering from his distraction and surprise, the Blood Snake weaved his hands in a spell - and vanished.

Was he invisible? Teleported? No-one was sure. Reaching for the powers of the Wristband, Gorfang invoked a First Strike. The effects were reduced because he couldn't see his foe, but it did allow him to loose his bow before it was likely that his target had had time to move. Three arrows tore across the range and one drove home into the invisible target and disappeared. Eloy, without the supernatural advantage of Hektis' tactical brilliance, missed again.

Méabh turned the Message spell to communicate with the Blood Snake. "Greetings." she said calmly. "I offer you aid." The Blood Snake paused, then whispered back, "Interesting. It is in your nature, after all. Very well - slay the orc!" Méabh hedged. "I need to get off the acid first," she commented, breaking into a run towards the Blood Snake's position.

Eloy abandoned bowfire for a bit and concentrated on running along the catwalk. Gorfang kept shooting on the move, without much to show for it. Then, suddenly and without warning, a blinding stroke of lightning blasted across the room and struck the orc squarely. Unable to dodge, he took the full force.

After a moment, the watchers' eyes cleared, to reveal the orc still defiantly standing, though quite badly burned in places and trailing smoke. He looked down at himself to see he was still alive and his lip curled. "Is that all?" he roared. "What a puff!"

Méabh had now closed the distance enough to use some more powerful magic. With a flick of her fingers she cast Phantasmal Assailants, using a combination of the link forged with the Message and the origin of Thykon's Lightning Bolt to target it. The spell seemed to work, but there was no sign of an effect at the other end.

Eloy and Gorfang were very close to the probable location of their foe, and unlimbered melee weapons. As they did so, Méabh unleashed a maximized Lightning Bolt with a wide spread at the same target. A cry of pain was heard, followed by a yell of "Careful where you point that finger!" from Eloy; the blast had missed him by inches. The scorched remnants

Bereloth in his hand, Eloy was able to derive the likely location of Thykon by use of Detect Magic, and launched an attack. He felt both his slashes skate off the fluted armour of his foe, reassuring him that he was at least facing the right way. Gorfang, in a reverse of the previous situation, had nothing to assist in his locating a target. His sword strikes, aimed at the space in front of Eloy on the grounds that Thykon should be there, not only missed their foe but very nearly hit the human instead. Gorfang lowered his blade and backed away from the combat. He had a feeling Méabh was about to do something else spectacular and didn't want to get in the way.

He was right, though not quite as he expected. Méabh sent an Orb of Force rocketing into the air to strike the Blood Snake's familiar squarely. A particularly nasty explosion of blood and feathers was coupled with a scream of pain from the invisible sorcerer below.

Eloy cried out as he felt a sharp blade bite into his helmet. Thykon must have resorted to physical weapons as well and drawn his greatsword. Then Méabh cast a Web that dropped neatly around Eloy and Thykon. Neither was actually entangled, but both were stuck where they were unless they wanted to be. Gorfang grinned, and unpacked a flask of oil. Eloy struck again, delivering another wound, his spirits rising; they had their foe on the ropes!

Evidently Thykon felt that way too. The next moment, the strands of web that had been touching the Blood Snake's legs went slack and dropped. Eloy swiped across the place where he'd been with Bereloth, but he was gone; Teleported or something similar. He put the weapon away and tried to force his way out of the Web, but only managed to get himself stuck fast. Gorfang shrugged, and dropped the burning oil onto it anyway. A brief but lively bonfire followed, leaving Eloy scorched and fuming but free.

Gorfang was a mess. Blood and soot covered nearly all of his visible skin and was dripping onto the floor. He was prepared to put up with this with the endurance of his kind, but then Méabh wielded her healing staff and drastically reduced his wounds. The orc was delighted, more so once he discovered that the dirt he'd ground into his more prominent injuries had produced a new crop of beautiful and manly scars, as good as ones that had taken a year to make. Eloy rubbed another dose of his ointment into his hair, easing the wound the Blood Snake's sword had cut, which had stubbornly refused to stop bleeding. With that out of the way, Méabh used a Mending to repair her part-dissolved boots.

Robbed of their kill, the companions decided to explore his house instead, after the others had disagreed with Gorfang's first suggestion of burning it down immediately. Inside, they found it split into three sections.

The middle section was lightly partitioned into areas for living; eating, preparing food, sleeping, storage for clothes, an empty armour stand and so on. The kitchen area was stocked with food, heavy on the meat, and Gorfang tucked in ravenously. Méabh watched this, slightly appalled; her upbringing had taught her never to eat in an enemy's house, and more so if magic was involved. Unbothered by this, Gorfang made a vast sandwich and followed Eloy, who was using Bereloth to check for magic.

The doorway at the right of the living area blazed with radiated magic, and the three made straight for it - and stopped.

The area inside was lined with widely-spaced glass display cases. There were ten, each a enshrining a different weapon - except one, which had an empty space the right size for a greatsword. Gorfang's eyes went instantly to the orc double axe he had hoped would be there; Méabh sought and found a slender, shimmering silver longsword. Eloy gazed hungrily at a heavy bow and, next to it, a silver quiver filled with arrows. Reverently, they opened the cases and removed the weapons, and Méabh cast an Identify on them.