IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 17B: THE COMING OF SHILUKAR

March 9th, 2008
The 7th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

From around the corner (and out of sight) a fair voice cried out: “Fall back to me, Servant of Ravvan!”

But even as the command was given, Agnarr surged forward. His blade ripped brutally through the brute’s throat, trailing a gout of blood. The brute gave a gurgling cry, stumbled back, and fell.

The unseen voice muttered a bitter curse and then gave an arcane cry. Before any of them had a chance to react, a small dart of flame shot around the corner. Striking the wall it burst into a massive explosion.

The arcane flames passed quickly, leaving in their wake scorched flesh and smoldering garments. Ignoring these wounds, they rushed forward. Agnarr rounded the corner just in time to see a young and handsome elf hovering in the air and completing the incantation for a second time.

The others dived for cover as the second explosion roared around them, but Agnarr simply ignored the flames, charging forward and slamming his greatsword into the arcanist.

The elf spun away, blood gushing down his side. “You fools! You don’t know who you’re meddling with!”

Tee smirked. “I’m guessing we’re meddling with Shilukar, right?”

Shilukar cursed and waved his hand, disappearing instantly from sight.

Tee instantly whipped up her dragon pistol, firing blindly at where Shilukar had been. Unfortunately, the elf had already ducked away. “Agnarr!” she cried. “Hit the floor!”

Agnarr swung his blade high and cut down into the pulpy flesh. And from the wound a spray of blood burst forth, coating the walls and floor… and Shilukar.

Tor leapt between Agnarr’s legs, rolled to his feet, and swung away. But Tor’s blade met only air, as Shilukar – hurling epitaphs behind him – ran for the door at the end of the hall.

Tor moved to pursue, but was stopped by a cry from Ranthir: “Look out!”

THE END OF THE LONG HALL OF BLOOD

The goblins trapped in the room to the south had torn or chopped their way through Ranthir’s web, and several of them were now racing up the hallway towards Agnarr’s exposed back.

Tor spun back into the intersection as Agnarr’s massive form slowly spun to meet the new threat. Again they found it difficult to find any purchase on the blood-slicked flesh beneath their feet, and Tor was nearly overwhelmed as the massively muscled goblins swarmed over him.

Tor grimaced as the vicious, serrated claws found they way past shield and armor alike. But his own blade, crackling with electrical energy, cut this way and that. And, towering above him, Agnarr’s blade crashed down time and time again.

Tee, meanwhile, grabbed the gray robes from the goblins they had slain before and spread them quickly across the hallway – soaking up the greasy blood. This allowed Agnarr and then Tor to fall back and find their footing.

More of the goblins were breaking free from the thick webbing, but once again the line was held firm by Agnarr and Tor. It was a long and bloody battle, but the goblins – no matter how thick or unnatural their thews – were clearly outmatched by the brave fighters.

THE PURSUIT OF SHILUKAR

As the last goblin fell, they turned towards the door through which Shilukar had fled. The elf had slammed it shut behind him, and now they were forced to approach it with caution, fearing the worst.

But Tee confirmed that, although Shilukar had locked it, there did not appear to be any traps upon the door. Agnarr stepped up and kicked it open.

Beyond the door they were pleased to discover that the pinkish flesh came to an end, revealing a rather drab corridor of gray stone. Several doors dotted the length of the hall and a narrow side corridor ran off to their right.

Proceeding with a watchful rear guard, they headed to the first door on their left. Opening it revealed a cavernous chamber stinking of foul chemicals and an organic, rotting stench. The ceiling of the chamber was at least twenty feet high and an elaborate wooden platform and scaffolding ran down the center of the room. Situated around the wooden platform were eight glass tanks, each filled with multicolored chemicals. Suspended in these tanks were various humanoid creatures – some of them goblins, some of them ratmen. These humanoids were connected to a variety of semi-organic apparatuses by umbilical-like cords. A variety of smaller tables and workbenches were scattered around the perimeter of the room.

The entire scene was disturbing, and Elestra couldn’t help commenting on the similarity between this laboratory and the laboratories of Ghul they had seen beneath Greyson House. “Is there some sort of connection?” she wondered.

But it was a question they couldn’t spare the time to investigate just yet. There were three more doors on the far side of the chamber, and Tee felt that they urgently needed to find Shilukar before he had a chance to regroup. They had already spent too many precious minutes fighting back the last wave of goblins in the central hall.

Elestra remained in the outer hall, keeping an eye on their rear, while the rest of them crossed the room to the nearest door. Tee carefully inspected it and confirmed it wasn’t trapped. Then, as Agnarr prepared to open the door, they signaled for Elestra to follow.

But as Elestra crossed the laboratory towards the door, she heard a loud noise from the hall they had just left. Alerting the others she raced back the way she had come.

When they had left the hallway all of the doors had been shut, now one of them stood gaping open. Agnarr shouldered his way past Elestra and headed towards it.

Throwing the door wide he revealed a room segmented by several glass partitions, which appeared to serve as cells. However, the doors to these partitions had also been thrown open and the creatures that had been kept there were swarming out of their cells: Monstrous spiders with hideous bat-wings nearly ten feet across swooped down from the ceiling. Ratmen with spider-like legs sprouting from their backs scurried across the floor.

Agnarr fell back a step, allowing Tor to take up a position next to him. The creatures poured forth, and they cut a vicious swath through them.

As the others gathered at the door, however, Ranthir – who had taken up the rear – glanced down the side corridor they had noticed earlier. At the end of this corridor was another iron door… an iron door that suddenly swung open of its own accord.

“Mistress Tee! The door!” Ranthir’s hand darted into one of his many pouches, pulled out a bag of chalk dust, and hurled it down the hall. His aim was unerring: The bag burst upon Shilukar’s invisible chest, covering the elf in fine, white powder.

Shilukar’s curse echoed through the halls as he slammed the door shut, but Tor was already in motion – reacting with lightning speed at Ranthir’s call. Leaving Agnarr to deal with the spider-things, he raced down the corridor and yanked open the iron door… surprising Shilukar, who had only just begun to move his key towards the lock.

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