Where our companions confront Magritte von Eslohe and interrupt her arcane ritual atop one of the towers of the castle.. THE SECRET PASSAGE The group composed themselves, having penetrated deep beneath Castle Eslohe, and slain the mutant ogre that served as torturer and jailer. They had also freed a number of prisoners, including a babbling insane man, Fritz Carhingar, who appeared to have been imprisoned for years, and an Imperial tax collector. Hugo had inadvertently discovered a secret passage leading from the dungeons and the path was lit with Manaan's light which poured from the shield of Edmee like the brightest lantern. The passageway seemed rarely used, with a thick layer of dust covering everything. They could see the hall turned sharply in the distance, and that a broken down door led down another hallway. "Should we go in?" asked Edmee, caution in her voice. "It is agreeable.." replied Hugo. Dronk grinned and Cyrus scowled, and our motley band of heroes entered the secret passageway. A heavy, dank smell of mold assaulted their nostrils. Only Dronk Cragpush seemed unfazed, his nose accustomed, after long years spent in the sewers beneath Karak Grimm, to far worse scents. They took the first junction, stepping over the broken-down door and walking down a long hallway to another door. This one was intact and iron bound. Dronk set to work, the tools of his trade flashing into his hands, and began to manipulate the lock. "Oh, this is nothing, a simple mechanism." he said, and just then a faint clicking noise could be heard. Dronk grinned again, broadly this time, as the door moved perceptibly. "The way is open now." Hugo pushed the door open with his heavy boot, revealing, under the light provided by Manaan, a darkened room. Several tables and a millstone sat in one corner, but the room was dominated by a large lead casket sitting in the middle of the floor. The casket was huge, large enough to be carried by 4 people, and had rods set into the side, like a coffin, to make it easier to carry. The top appeared A LEAD CASKET Hugo started to step into the room, but Cyrus stopped him. "Look at the walls." said Cyrus, through pursed lips. Casting the light around, they could see a thick black substance covered the walls, writhing like monstrous hairs, and seemed to recoil when struck with the light. "Some corruption of the Dark Powers.." mumbled Cyrus, gritting his teeth. Unwilling to enter the room, Dronk used his grappling hook to catch the lead chest, then the group heaved and slowly shifted the casket to the doorway. There, they pulled it open, only to find it was empty. The group turned to leave. Edmee, however, was curious of the objects visible on one of the tables, near the millstone, and against the protests of her companions, stepped into the room, quickly moving to the table and reaching for the objects which were not clearly visible beneath the thick layer of dust.As she did so, the writhing mass covering the walls reached for her, but Edmee was too fast, scooping the objects up and leaping back through the open doorway to where everyone waited. She opened her palms and found they contained a number of cut and polished crystal lenses, of unknown purpose. She shrugged at the others who still stared at her, mouths agape, then added "Shall we continue?" before striding back down the hallway and deeper into the secret passageway. Her companions looked to one another, then followed, meekly. BLOOD SUCKERS The passageway lead to a steep circular staircase, and they ascended, the way still lit by Edmee's shield. At the top of the stone stairs they emerged into a large circular room, filled with rubble. As they looked around for anything of interest, the noise of leathery wings drew their eyes upwards, where a number of batwinged creatures with long proboscis swooped down from hidden aeries. Weapons were drawn in a flash, and the group battled the things. At one point, Dronk felt a prick on his shoulder and found one of the hideous things had attached itself to him, greedily sucking his blood. With a Dwarvish oath, he ripped the thing off and stomped it to bits under his booted heel. In moments, the things had been slain or driven off. "We are not the easy prey they sought." said Cyrus, dryly. Finding nothing in the room but cobwebs, rubble and ruined furniture, the group continued up the staircase. They climbed for what seemed like a long time before emerging onto another floor. Here some natural light, greenish-hued, spilled in from an aperture. The group split up to investigate the rooms. Hugo and Edmee found a bizarre arcane laboratory, covered with vials containing various liquids and powders, and alchemical equipment. In the center of the laboratory was a large cauldron from which a foul smell emitted. A hideous object caught their eye - a cup made with the mummified head of a man, long dead. Hugo found a large bundle of weirdroot, that drug so popular among the Empire's mercenaries, eager to forget the horrors they had witnessed, and pocketed it while he thought Edmee wasn't looking. A HUNGRY CHEST As they looked around, Dronk and Cyrus checked the other rooms. In the first, Dronk came across a man dressed as a castle guard, writhing around within a magical circle of 8 points, etched into the stone floor. Taking no chances, Dronk shot the man in the head, then stabbed it, being careful not to enter the circle. Cyrus scowled, seeing the obvious sigil of the Ruinous Powers, the 8 pointed star of Chaos Undivided, and moved into the next room, where he found a large, iron-bound chest set with a heavy lock. He immediately called to Dronk "There is something here you will be interested in!" Wasting no time, Dronk entered the room and went over to the chest, his thieve's tools flashing into his hands. "Looks promising!" he said, as he reached for the lock. When Dronk touched the lock, however, the entire thing seemed to swell and bulge, and flowed over his hand, trapping him. This was no chest, he realized, but some forgotten horror, as the lid grew a set of long fangs and began to gnash at him hungrily. Cyrus's pistols began to blaze and Hugo and Edmee ran to help their companions, Hugo's greatsword cleaving deep into the amorphous blob which now threatened to engulf the struggling Dwarf assassin, Edmee throwing bolts of radiance that burned the thing. A few desperate moments later and the creature dissolved into a pool of foul-smelling goo, revealing a pile of thousand-year-old gold crowns, and a silver ring inlaid with strange sigils. Hugo took the ring and placed it in his belt-pouch. Dronk, having recovered his composure, began to gather up the coins, turning to Cyrus only to say bitterly "Fuck you, Cyrus." - to which Cyrus only grinned as he replied "It was something you were interested in, was it not?" After looking the remains of the mimic creature, the party moved back to the laboratory, where Cyrus was infuriated by the artifacts of Chaos therein - particularly the strange cup. Hugo found a letter addressed to Magritte von Eslohe, from the Arch-Lumen, signed with the seal of a purple hand. It indicated the hand was aware she possessed the stone, and wanted to meet with her to discuss handing it over. Hugo showed this to the group, then rolled it up carefully and stowed it in his bags. Afterwards Cyrus took the evil-looking goblet and threw it into the cauldron, then tossed in as much flammable material as he could find and setting the whole thing on fire. The room quickly filled with thick black smoke as the object shriveled and disintegrated in the heat. Before leaving, Cyrus also grabbed a number of vials of various unidentified liquids. Moving quickly to avoid the smoke, they headed up another staircase, finding the next floor filled with rubble. Around the room, pinned to the walls, were a number of skeletons, hung in gibbets. Edmee looked closely, and decided they must have died of starvation. "A truly horrible end.." she began, trailing off into thought. "I am eager to meet the Lady Magritte, to put an end to her reign of heresy." replied Cyrus. Hugo tightened his grip on his greatsword and nodded. Dronk reloaded his crossbow, and said nothing, but his posture showed he was ready for battle. As they had moved up the stages of the tower, they could hear the rain outside intensifying, and frequently heard the loud crack of thunder, seemingly close. Now they moved up another staircase and emerged into a library, books covering one wall. On a table were scattered a number of pages of handwritten notes. Another staircase rose upwards along one wall, and from above they could hear a female voice, rising above the noise of the storm. Hugo was first up the stairs, bounding up two at a time, followed closely by the others, without much examining the contents of the library. AN ELDRITCH APPARATUS They emerged into a startling scene. A woman dressed in blue robes, her arms held high above her, the words of Power on her lips, stood before a table connected by coils of thick copper wire to a strange apparatus that stuck out of the side of the tower, pointing up and out into the raging storm. Atop the device sat a huge chunk of glowing green stone - Warpstone - caged into place. On the table a massive form, looking like it had been stitched together from dozens of mutated corpses. Nearby a group of skeletons stood, their jawbones rattling. A Ulrican war cry forced itself from Hugos lips as he leapt into the room, charging the woman. "KILL THEM!" she cried, and the skeletons drew curved swords and moved towards the group. Cyrus began to fire his blessed pistols, and Edmee closed her eyes, saying a prayer to Manaan. Dronk rushed into the room, firing his crossbow at the woman - Magritte von Eslohe - striking her in the shoulder, before ducking behind a nearby table. Edmee's prayer caused several of the undead to fall to the ground, now motionless, while Cyrus's pistol fire finished off the others. Meanwhile, Hugo had reached the sorceress and with a mighty swing he carved a hideous wound into her figure, staggering her. Her lips flecked with blood, she looked at the Knight of the White Wolf and smiled as she mumbled words to a powerful spell. She reached towards Hugo and a green light poured over him. He felt his skin begin to fall apart, black patches spreading on his arms, as the spell threatened to suck his very life force from his form. Hugo ignored his approaching death and continued to attack, severely injuring the woman, even as his flesh began to rupture from Magritte's deadly magicks. FLESH BEAST As he did so, the massive form on the table began to stir, and then raised itself up to its full height, almost eight feet tall. Magritte, hard-pressed by Hugo's assault, muttered something unintelligible, and the thing's eyes lit up from within as it turned towards Hugo's armored form, and smashed him with a massive fist, sending him sprawling. The rest of the group moved into the room while Dronk slung his heavy crossbow and drew his trusty rapier. Cyrus chanted the words to his Ritual of Binding, and an arcane symbol appeared below the flesh-thing. It seemed bound, but did not stop its attacks on Hugo, as he desperately battered the massive fists away. Edmee, seeing Magritte turning away, tried to cast a spell to hold her in place, but Magritte only smiled as she shrugged off the effects, then drew in the air with one finger, a sparkling line of energy appearing as she did so - then stepped into the shape and disappeared! Edmee, frustrated, advanced on the abomination alongside Dronk. Cyrus's pistols now turned on the thing, blasting huge rents in the mound of flesh and causing parts of it to begin to burn. It bellowed in mindless rage and continued to swing at Hugo. The group then set apon it, Dronk firing his crossbow, Cyrus his pistols, and Edmee flinging spells from her outstretched palms. Off-balance from the attacks, the thing turned, giving Hugo the opportunity he needed to strike. His greatsword cleaved a rent in the thing. Again and again they attacked, and finally the thing collapsed on the table, no longer moving. Cyrus and Hugo moved closer to inspect the thing, their boots resting on the heavy metal plate underneath the table on which it was born - and slain. As they did so, a bolt of lightning struck the copper filament outside the tower, sending electricity into the plate and giving them a jolt. As they recovered, they could see the thing was beginning to stir - alive, again! Hugo began to chop at the thing, over and over, squelching noises filling the air. Before long, not much was left on the table but pieces of unidentifiable meat. Dronk muttered something and fired his crossbow at the copper wire that lead to the apparatus, missing at first, but striking it perfectly the second time, severing the wire. The next time the lightning struck, it did not flow into the apparatus, and Cyrus and Hugo were not set afire by the natural power. However, the tower began to shake as bolts of lightning struck it, the force causing the structure to shudder. The group began to look around the room, their quarry having escaped. THE POWER OF GOLD While Cyrus moved to the device, inspecting the huge chunk of warpstone, the others moved over to the large pile of gold coins and equipment laying in a heap on one side of the room. Greedily, they began to shove the coins into their bags, giddy at the sight of so much gold. Meanwhile, Cyrus struggled to free the warpstone from its cage, but found he couldnt shift it. The tower shuddered again, and dust fell from the ceiling. "Help me, you fools, or does your greed blind you! This tower is unsafe, we must get the stone and be gone from this place!" cried Cyrus. Hugo finished inspecting the equipment, picking up a large, magnificent flail which gleamed unnaturally, and moved with Edmee to begin helping Cyrus. Together they opened the cage, but even the three of them together struggled under the massive weight, being careful not to touch the stone with their bare hands. Dronk, meanwhile, was grinning broadly as he shovelled handful apon handful of gold into his bags, already filled nearly to the brim. Cyrus shouted at him, and Dronk contuined to ignore him and focus on the gold - until Cyrus fired his pistol, wounding Dronk in the shoulder. "What did you do that for!?" he shouted in pain and anger. Cyrus, his pistol still smoking, raised it to point at Dronk - "You will help us dwarf, I have no desire to die today.." he replied. Dronk began to pull his rapier from its scabbard, but stopped when Edmee rushed over and whispered to him "Don't worry, we will drown him together later." Relucantly, Dronk stopped gathering gold and moved to help the others. Edmee also whispered to Hugo "He is going to kill all of us!" to which Hugo replied "Yes, but we need him - for now." A RAPID EXIT Another bolt of lightning flashed, causing the tower to groan and shudder, harder this time. "We must hurry!" cried Edmee. Yet even the four of them could only slowly drag the Warpstone meteorite, its weight being so great. In a flash of inspiration, Hugo took from his bags a bottle, found long ago under Dagmar's old observatory, and quaffed it in a single motion. Hugo suddenly grew, his form swelling to over twice it's usual size, and then with his massive hands he grabbed the meteorite, and found he could carry it easily. "Let us make haste!" cried Cyrus, bounding down the stairs. As he reached the library, he grabbed a journal sitting on a table, before continuing downwards. As the group ran down the staircases, Hugo carrying the glowing green warpstone, the tower began to fall apart under the repeated strikes of lightning. The groan of stone coming apart began to thunder in their ears as they rushed down the stairs. They seemed endless, and more than once one or more slipped to one knee as they ran as fast as they could. Hugo's massive form barely fit in the narrow staircases, but he managed, holding the Warpstone in front of him like a full chamber-pot. Down and down they ran, as the tower collapsed around them. With a final push, they reached the bottom floor and ran into the secret passageway, just as countless tons of rubble filled the stair behind them with a massive crash, the force throwing all of them to the ground. Dust filled the air, and all was dark and silent suddenly - except for a deep green glow, flickering from within the meteorite where it lay, dropped, on the stone floor..
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The WizardIn time, you will come to know the tragic extent of my failings... Past Journals
September 2017
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