IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 28C: INTO THE BANEWARRENS

September 7th, 2008
The 15th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

THE MANSION ON NIBECK STREET

Besides Taunell, Pythoness House was deserted. Neither the cultists, the chaos spirit, nor the demon had returned. Satisfied that there was nothing else to be gained there, they headed towards the mansion on Nibeck Street.

The mansion was a single-story sprawl of decayed opulence standing in the shadow of the Jeweled Cliffs. It had clearly been abandoned for some time. A dreary layer of neglect was draped over the entire structure – grime and dust and weeds.

They carefully made their way up to the grand entrance. By studying the dim tracks left in the dust outside the door, Agnarr was able to tell that a large group had recently entered the mansion. “I’m not sure how many were in the group, but some of these tracks are too large to be human. They appear to have been followed by two other people who were careful in their movements – stealthy.”

There were also several large, circular, clawed prints that none of them recognized. Agnarr couldn’t tell if these tracks had accompanied the first group or the second.

Tee carefully opened the front doors. A broad foyer with a moldering carpet was revealed. About thirty feet further on, this foyer ended in the main entrance hall which ran through the center of the building. On the opposite side of the hall they could look out through what had once been a grand living room through a wall of glass doors into the mansion’s private garden.

Agnarr was still following the tracks. “They went to the right.”

The others followed him. They passed a dining room on their left. The tracks continued further down the hall towards another door, which turned out to be the kitchen. Beyond the kitchen the hall took a sharp turn to the right.

“All right,” Tee said. “Do we keep following the tracks or should we make sure that—“

Her question was rendered moot as an orc woman came darting around the corner and, with a guttural warcry, swung her sword at Agnarr’s head.

The barbarian was surprised, but only for a moment. He easily ducked under the orc woman’s clumsy blow, whipped out his own sword, and used it to pin her to the wall.

The orc woman howled in pain. She slammed her own sword into Agnarr’s side. Agnarr barely grunted. The orc woman’s eyes widened and she tried to squirm free, but Agnarr – holding her in place with one hand – simply drew back and then severed her spine.

Tor trussed her up and Dominic healed her spine. Tee quickly rifled through her possessions, but she was carrying nothing that would identify her. Her equipment was of high quality, but generic. She had no identification papers on her. What she did have, however, was a curious ring made out of bone. Tee tried to remove it, but found that it stuck fast. Dominic inspected it and discovered that it was actually bonded to the orc woman’s finger bone.

“That’s… disturbing,” Tee said.

They woke her up and began questioning her. Unfortunately, she proved completely intransigent – hurling curses at them and then falling silent. Tee pretended to plead with her, playing the sympathetic role to the hilt. But, when she still refused to respond, Tee simply turned to Agnarr: “Do it.”

Agnarr stepped forward and ripped off her ear.

But she still wouldn’t talk.

“How is that even possible?” Elestra said. “I’m intimidated and it wasn’t even my ear.”

Dominic re-attached her ear (as much to stop her from bleeding to death as anything else) and they dumped her in a nearby closet. No one had come to help her, but they did a quick sweep of the mansion’s upper level just to be sure there wouldn’t be any more surprises. They found nothing.

THE MEANDERING PASSAGE

In the kitchen’s pantry they found a narrow flight of stone stairs leading down into a wine cellar. There were various wooden racks for bottles and a few larger ones for casks, but they were all empty. A number of the racks, however, had been toppled over and shoved off to one side of the cellar, exposing a large section of the western wall. A huge hole had been dug into this wall, leading to a long tunnel which ran out of sight.

They headed into the tunnel. The floor was bare stone and tightly compacted dirt, making it impossible for Agnarr to make out any clear trail. However, Tee was able to tell that the tunnel had been dug with large claws.

The tunnel ran in a perfectly straight line due west. After a few minutes they began to wonder exactly how far it went. It was more than 1,600 feet before they reached the first turn-off — a second tunnel broke off abruptly to the north. The walls of this second tunnel were rougher and less even — it had the appearance of a natural cave, perhaps one that had been inadvertently intersected by the tunnel they were following. They decided to bypass it and continue west.

After another thousand feet or so, the tunnel widened into a larger cavern. Loose stones and dirt covered the floor. Burrowed passages continued to the west and to the south. There were a few digging tools scattered on the floor (none of which, curiously, appeared to have been used) and a leather pack leaning up against the wall.

Digging through the leather pack they found a few miscellaneous supplies and a note:

YUINTHU’S LETTER TO KIKANUILE

Kikanuile—

I am glad to hear that your excavations are nearly complete. Fortunately, our own researches have already yielded fruit. Within the unsealed portions of the Banewarrens, you should discover a massive iron door marked with the Seal of Malkith. You will need to breach this warded door in order to penetrate deeper into the complex.

To that end, I am sending you a ring enchanted with two magical wishes. You will need to use one of the wishes to open the door – and even that will only keep it open for a moment. The second wish will be your key to get out. Use the ring with care. We do not know when we might be able to procure another.

Our attempts to divine what lies beyond the door have failed. Both our spells and our research are silent as to the location of the Grail. Discover as much as you can and then report back.

—Yuinthu

“What does it mean?” Elestra asked.

“I have no idea,” Tee said, tucking the letter away.

“Which way should we go?” Ranthir asked.

“Let’s keep heading west.”

But after a couple hundred feet, the western tunnel came to a sudden end – as if digging had simply stopped for some reason. So they doubled back and took the southern passage instead.

After about eighty feet, this second tunnel broke through into a very different-looking chamber. Rocks and dirt covered the smooth stone floor near the mouth of the tunnel, and around the edges of the gaping hole they could see pieces of jagged metal jutting out of the wall. The finished area beyond was about 30 feet wide and equally long. To the right there was an open arch. To the left, the chamber widened into an octagon-shaped area, with a narrow passage on its far side and a large steel door covered with runes and symbols standing slightly ajar opposite it on the north wall.

ENTERING THE BANEWARRENS

As they passed carefully through the jagged hole into the chamber beyond, Ranthir noticed minute runes written on the metal jutting out of the wall. He was able to identify them as arcane resonant points designed to interact with potent magic emanating from some other location.

“But what are they supposed to do?” Elestra asked.

“There’s no way to know,” Ranthir said. “I’d have to know what emanations they were meant to receive. If they were active, I might be able to deduce it. But they aren’t.”

Tee, meanwhile, had moved ahead to investigate the rune-covered door. Looking through it she saw a stark and empty chamber. She called Ranthir over to take a look at it.

He identified the runes of the door as being of a warding nature. He found traces around the edges of the door of a magical metallic substance that would have enhanced the seal on the door. “Difficult to open, but not impossible. And now that it’s been opened, the ward has been completely broken.”

“So even closing the door again wouldn’t seal it?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay, close it anyway. We’ll check the southern passage first to make sure that nothing can sneak up behind us.”

VERMIN WIGHTS

The southern passage led to a large room with vaulted ceilings. A huge iron vat – at least ten feet tall and pocked with rust – stood in the center of the room. Dozens of iron buckets were stacked around it. On the far side of the room there was a wide flight of stairs leading up.

Before they could actually enter the room, however, the far corner of the room – which was shrouded in shadows – began to emit a terrible droning noise. Two humanoid figures composed of tiny insects and worms came gurgling forward like thick, black swarms given the shape and form of men.

Tee whipped out her dragon pistol and fired. The force blast ripped a hole in the first vermin-thing and left a faint, ozone-tinged stench hanging in the air. But the creature seemed barely affected – the insects of its body simply swarmed up to fill the hole.

Agnarr charged. His flaming sword ripped all the way through the nearest creature, but in the sword’s wake the creature simply reformed itself around the cut. The stench of burning insects grew thicker as Agnarr struck again and again, each time to little effect. The creature tried to strike back several times, but Agnarr was fighting in concert with Seeaeti – their mutual training clearly paying off.

The second vermin wight reached Tee. Its arm shot forward, completely enveloping her head in its squirming mass. A chill, supernatural cold began to sink down her throat, but she managed to tear herself free before suffering anything worse than minor scratches and a sense of sick nausea.

As Tee stumbled back, Tor came running up – cleaving from one end of the vermin-thing attacking her to the other. The creatures two halves fell apart… and then rejoined, crawling back together with a sickly, slurping sound.

Elestra, thinking quickly, fished a flask of oil out of her pack and threw it at the vermin-thing Tor was fighting. Agnarr stepped back, pivoted, and landed a blow with his flaming sword. The oil ignited and the vermin-thing was immolated by the wave of flames.

Tee stepped back and, drawing her own flask of oil, hurled it at the one Agnarr had just turned his back on. Agnarr whirled and a moment later there was nothing left of the creatures but two inky patches of burning grease.

Running the Campaign: On the Efficacy of Burning Oil – Campaign Journal: Session 29A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index