SESSION 48D: ALCHESTRIN’S MURAL
January 9th, 2010
The 26th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty
Through the last arch leading out of the hall they headed down a narrowed hallway. At its end – perhaps a hundred feet or so further on – they could see a huge bas relief depicting a wolf’s skull that took up the entire wall. But before they reached the bas relief, they came to a pair of facing doorways.
Passing through one of these they found themselves in a semi-circular chamber. The far, curved wall of the place was covered in an immense, detailed mural. Although the paint was faded and chipped here and there, it was still impressive in its scope and artisanship. Ranthir, in particular, was fascinated by it. And while the others kept a nervous guard in the hall, he spent the next twenty minutes studying it in detail.
ALCHESTRIN’S MURAL
This mural appears to depict – in juxtaposition – a series of events of either historical or mythological character.
FIRST SEQUENCE: Two magi are shown casting a powerful ritual creating a vortex of energy.
SECOND SEQUENCE: The magi are shown bowing down before a huge, purple crystal that juts up out of the ground.
THIRD SEQUENCE: A great castle has been built around the crystal and a great city has risen up around the castle.
THE GREAT SPIRE OF PTOLUS
FOURTH SEQUENCE: Divided from the third sequence by a depiction of the Spire. The crystal, castle, and city remain – but now the tableau is littered with corpses. A single figure is shown with her hand raised to the crystal, a lance of purple energy connecting the two.
FIFTH SEQUENCE: The castle and crystal have disappeared. The city is in ruins and fallen into darkness.
THE CRYSTAL AMONG STARS
SIXTH SEQUENCE: Divided from the fifth sequence by a depiction of the purple crystal set against a backdrop of faded stars. A skull-faced figure is shown standing before the Spire, leading a great army of malformity.
SEVENTH SEQUENCE: A smaller number of malformities, led by a black serpent which walks like a man, stands upon the plain before the Spire. They surround a huge machine of twisted metal.
EIGHTH SEQUENCE: The castle seen before, enshrouded by coruscating beams of black energy emanating from the machinery, is seen before the Spire.
THE CRYSTAL AMONG ENEMIES
NINTH SEQUENCE: Separated from the eighth sequence by another depiction of the crystal, this one sending out lancing beams of energy which strike the malformities from the seventh sequence. The ninth sequence shows a young boy laying his hand upon the side of the quiescent crystal.
TENTH SEQUENCE: The boy, bathed in the soothing light of the crystal, is shown coming of age in a series of sequential images arrayed around the crystal. This culminates, at the top of the sequence, with a figure of the boy-turned-man – his arms outstretched to the heavens – above the crystal itself.
ELEVENTH SEQUENCE: The man is shown locked in arcane battle with the skull-faced figure.
THE MAN AND THE SPIRE
TWELFTH SEQUENCE: Separated from the eleventh sequence by a depiction of the Spire with the man – seemingly grown to the same gargantuan proportions as the Spire – laying his hands upon it as if he would rip it from the earth. The man is shown still locked in arcane battle with the skull-faced figure, but now the crystal has appeared behind him and sends a beam of energy lancing into his back – the man writhes in pain.
THIRTEENTH SEQUENCE: The man, shown bleeding and clutching at his side, is shown retreating into a great hole in the earth at the foot of the Spire.
The final image of the mural is a depiction of Alchestrin’s seal, as shown on the iron plug above, along with the same inscription.
ALCHESTRIN’S SEAL
The full perusal of its contents made them suspicious of Lord Zavere again. If the man depicted in the mural had fought against Ghul the Skull-King, why had the crystal of Castle Shard attacked him?
“I’m going to be pissed if it turns out we’ve been feeding information to Ghul’s heir or the Banelord reincarnate for the past month.”
But Ranthir pointed out that, if Castle Shard were villainous, then Lord Zavere wasn’t likely to send them to the place where they would discover his villainy. “Didn’t he say something about Alchestrin leaving Castle Shard under a cloud of suspicion?”
“That’s true,” Tee said. “It’s not like the mural in the evil tomb isn’t going to be biased.”
“Then why would he send us here?” Elestra asked.
Tee shrugged. If Zavere was 900 years old, trying to sense his motives was a waste of time.
But something else about the mural had captured Tor’s attention. “Has anyone gone to the top of the Spire? What’s up there?”
“Jevicca told us that Jabel Shammar – the citadel of the Banelord – remains intact up there,” Tee said. “That’s more than I had ever heard before. But everyone who grows up in Ptolus knows the stories of the people who have tried to fly up there.”
“What happened to them?” Tor asked.
“They don’t come back,” Elestra said.
THE GOLEM DOOR
The mural had proven informative, so they decided to check out the bas relief. But as they drew near, they were somewhat terrified to see the entire sculpture come suddenly to life.
“WHAT BUSINESS WOULD YOU HAVE HERE?”
Ranthir was fascinated. “You speak modern Arathian. That’s fascinating…”
Tee, who also spoke Arathian, addressed the wolf-skull directly. “We come for the knowledge of Alchestrin.”
“THEN YOU MAY PASS.”
And the mouth of the golem door gaped wide, revealing a broad stone stairway on the other side. After a moment of hesitation, Tee nervously agreed to go through. And, after some confused deliberation, Tor and Nasira went with her. (A meat-shield and a healer. Everything was fine.)
The stairs twisted down fifty feet or so before bottoming out before another door of iron. Unlocking this door and swinging it wide, they looked down a long, wide hall of finely-fitted stone – the work of meticulous craftsmen, although the age of the work was clearly immense. There were scorch marks, broken sword blades, and the like littering the length of the hall, which disappeared into a deep gloom beyond the reach of their lights. But at the very edge of their sight, they could see a pair of facing doors.
Tor shook his head. “This place is huge.”
Running the Campaign: Art Handouts – Campaign Journal: Session 49A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index
