After defeating a group of shadows in the Haunted Battleground the party took a short rest and scoured the area for treasure. Lythandar discovered a pair of Gloves of Ice which he kept being the only member of the party with a cold attack. The party then moved on continuing down the slope of the Burning Peaks. Ash still covered the ground which made quick movements difficult. Soon the party came upon signs of a battle, old corpses, scraps of armor, broken weapons and fallen standards. Just ahead the party saw a mound of bone and flesh. It appeared that the bones and flesh of innumerable people and creatures were somehow fused together into a disgusting amalgam of horror. This monstrosity was certainly one of the Hideous Engines that Marit and the Tovagian soldiers mentioned. Led by Pretis the group decided to make its way around the mound at the farthest distance possible. Just as Pretis moved within a few yards of the Engine a single skull on the top started chanting but there was no movement from the horror.
The group moved on noticing that the sky was a continuous dull, dusky light that never seemed to change. After some time the group camped for the night and were not bothered by any creatures. The next day the group finally moved out of the mountains and found themselves in a ashen desert with the pathway continuing as a poorly kept roadway. Following this pathway they met up with two other tracks coming down from the Burning Peaks and the path was now a white flagstone covered roadway in much better shape than they had seen thus far.
Eventually the road was flanked by titanic sandstone heads watching like silent guardians. The statues face the road, placed every hundred feet or so, such that no head directly faces another. Each unique head is almost twice as tall as a human and they flank the road as far as can be seen. After noon the party sees a huge white dome in the distance which has two swirling black holes in the upper half of the front wall. As the party neared the dome it became clear that it was actually a skull, with two black eye sockets. The roadway led directly to the 50' tall teeth. In the sky the party saw huge Vultures circling while emitting their haunting cry. Moving directly to the "gate" the party can see that the skull is made up of billions of bones seemingly fused together.
Melisana moved forward and knocked on the gate and after a short wait the teeth started to swing outward. Inside was a gigantic figure, easily four times their height standing directly inside. A thick black robe covered the form, with many jewels hanging around its neck and waist. Inside was a dimly lit city filled with towers and domed buildings. The party moved in and the figure raised its arm and shut the gate with a bone white hand. Moving into the "city" the party saw raggedly clothed humans darting quickly from light area to light area. The light was dimly cast by skull shaped street lamps. These figures seemed to try and move out of the dark areas as fast as possible. The party also noticed that there were several kinds of undead walking the streets, vampires, ghouls, skeletons, zombies and the like. The humans made sure to avoid interfering with the movement of the undead.
Soon a group of soldiers swept by. They were dressed in fine cloaks, gleaming jewels and beautiful armor. As Melisana watched one of them turned its head and caught a glimpse of a pale, white face peering through empty black eye sockets. The humans made sure they moved out of the way of the soldiers but looked even more nervous in the shadows cast by the many buildings. The group moved into an avenue which led toward a large ornate building set about in the middle of the skull. Two men ran down into a dark alley and were followed by a black flying horse with a rider who brandished a scythe. Soon the party heard screams from the alley and then the horse and rider flew back up into the dome.
Lythandar, Alhellara and Melisana were listening to the language but soon found it was nothing like the Tovagian speech. The group decided to investigate the large "palace" and circling it found the front plaza held several five gallows, each with five nooses and five pikes in a star pattern around each. Each pike was adorned with a human head in different states of decay. While scouting the area they saw soldiers march into and out of the "palace". They also saw "police" moving in and out of the area along with humans and undead entering and leaving the "palace."
About halfway around the large building a young woman in tattered clothing approached the party warily. She stopped and spoke: "You come to this realm of evil bringing more evil with you. There are presences of which you are unaware. Watch yourselves." Surprisingly she spoke in common and the party struck up a conversation. Valuriss happened to be from their home world a short distance from the Korinn Archipelago and had arrived in Cavitius with her father several years ago. At the parties suggestion they moved to her hovel through dark back twisty alleys were she filled them in on Cavitius the city of the Maimed Lord. The undead are favored of the Chained God and rule over the living. The Fingers keep the peace in the city, while undead soldiers are sent to battle the rabble of Kas. Asked about the flying horse she explained that the nightmares, ridden by Reavers, were powerful tracking undead and could trace humans from a crime scene even after a day or two had passed. Valuriss asked the party to take her with them when they left Cavitius but she explained that one cannot leave through the gates. "You can check out any time you like but you can never leave."
Finally the party asked about the "Shadowed Room" but Valuriss had no knowledge of this place. She suggested that they contact Bratorn, a priest bodyguard, in the temple. He was a trustworthy character who also spoke Common. Asked where the temple was she pointed out that it was located between the eye sockets above the entry gate. The way there was an open staircase that lead all the way around the skull. Humans generally go to the temple for services one a month. Behind the temple in the "wall of the skull" were the priest quarters where they likely would find Bratorn. Valuriss taught the party some of the local language and some praises to the Whispered One. Promising to return and take Valuriss with them the party left to start the long climb.
About halfway around the skull five skeletons stepped out from the wall and blocked any forward movement. The lead skeleton commanded something about "Singing and the Whispered One.' Melisana attempted to sing but the skeletons stood their ground after which Pretis charged forward to attack. After her attack the skeleton party broke up in a burst which damaged Pretis. Demin and Gofin attacked from range and Lythandar moved forward to cast Repelling Sphere, The skeletons moved forward and attacked Mara and Pretis using boneshards and scimitars. Melisana then moved up and used Rebuke Undead which did a good amount of damage to four skeletons BUT they all burst in boneshards dropping Lythandar and Melisana to the stairs. Taking advantage Pretis rushed in using Fearless Rescue to damage a skeleton while also bringing Melisana back from unconsciousness. Soon only one skeleton was left hanging off the edge of the stairs and Gofin finished it off by pulling it away from the edge.
Scorecard: The party gained 143 XP for the skeleton attack and are now at 14,569 XP needing 1,931 to gain 9th level. Also the group found Gloves of Ice which were claimed by Lythandar.
No comments:
Post a Comment