IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 15C: THE TAINT OF GHUL

January 12th, 2008
The 6th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

MORNING SICKNESS

The next morning, Tee woke up early and was struck almost instantly by a wave of dizziness and nausea. She felt sick in both body and soul.

She woke Dominic, but he wasn’t able to find anything wrong with her. So she decided to cross Delver’s Square to St. Gustav’s Chapel and speak with Brother Fabitor. But, like Dominic, he wasn’t able to find anything wrong with her. She seemed perfectly healthy.

Frustrated and confused, Tee returned to the Ghostly Minstrel in time to join the others for breakfast. When she described what she was feeling, however, Ranthir suddenly spoke up: “Actually, now that you mention it, I haven’t been feeling well since we were exploring that strange temple yesterday.”

“And you didn’t say anything?” Tee was aghast.

“I didn’t think it was of import.”

Now they were all worried. Was the temple the ultimate source of Tee’s illness, as well? And, if so, would they all succumb to it eventually? And how bad would it get?

“It’s not a physical illness and it’s associated with Ghul’s Labyrinth,” Tee said. “Maybe somebody else has run into this before.”

“I could check at the Delver’s Guild Library,” Ranthir suggested.

“Good idea,” Tee said. “I’m supposed to be meeting with Mand Scheben at the Temple of Asche this morning. So I’ll meet up with you here for lunch? See what you’ve found?”

A CONVERSATION WITH MAND

When Tee reached the Temple of Asche, the priests took her directly to Mand’s office.

Tee had thought it was going to be difficult to explain what was troubling her, but she quickly found that she was gushing information: She told him all about the deal she had made with Malkeen (a detail that not even her comrades knew about) and then went on to describe her encounter with Malkeen the previous morning. This led her into an explanation of who Dullin was and how she had ended up sending him a note (although here, at least, she curtailed the explanation in much the same way she had with Malkeen himself).

Mand was concerned. Malkeen was dangerous, and he was certain that Lord Zavere had never meant for them to attract that kind of attention. He promised Tee that he would bring the matter up with Zavere as soon as possible.

After leaving Mand’s office, Tee felt twisted up inside: She wasn’t sure if she’d done the right thing. She certainly wasn’t happy with all the information that had spilled out of her. But it was what it was. She’d have to live with it.

THE SHADOW OF TAINT

Tee returned to the Ghostly Minstrel. About an hour later, Ranthir came back, as well.

The news wasn’t good: Based on the description of their symptoms and the events surrounding it, Ranthir suspected that they were suffering from a phenomenon known as “taint”. Taint was a perversion of the natural order – a corruption so profound it warped the very nature of reality. It was a manifestation of extreme evil or chaos concentrated into a single creature, artifact, ritual, location, or act.

Ranthir suspected that the temple they had explored was a tainted place. It was also possible that some of the items they had taken from the Labyrinth were tainted themselves (which would explain why Tee didn’t begin manifesting symptoms until hours later).

“How can we know for sure?” Tee asked.

“Certain divination spells – particularly those which can detect the presence evil or chaos – can detect the taint,” Ranthir said.

Dominic said that he would be able to pray for such divinations in the morning, but Tee wasn’t willing to wait. She marched them all straight back to the Temple of Asche.

Mand was surprised to see that Tee had come back so quickly, but when he heard the situation he quickly summoned in one of the other priests and had him perform the appropriate rites.

These confirmed their fears: Tee and Ranthir had been touched by the taint, which clung to them like a miasma. In addition, several of the objects that Tee carried proved to be tainted themselves – specifically the two cube-like hunks of metal; the small box of metallic discs (specifically the discs themselves); the glass sphere filled with blackish liquid; and the twenty arrows of milky-white glass.

Mand Scheben knew that there were holy rites that could cleanse the taint out of them, but they would be expensive – even with the favored status in which the Temple of Asche held them. (There were lesser rites that wouldn’t be so expensive – but they would leave some residue of the taint behind.)

In fact, the only way they could afford the more expensive rituals would be with the money they were going to get for the gemstones Tee had consigned to Edarth’s the day before. They hadn’t been paid for that consignment yet, but they would be soon enough. Tee asked Mand if the proper rites could be prepared for the next day. Mand agreed.

Tee also asked him if the church would be willing to take the tainted objects from them. But at this Mand balked: He would have to consult with the elders of the church before agreeing to such a thing. Tee was frustrated by this – “You’re a church! That’s what you’re supposed to do!” – but really had no choice in the matter.

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IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 15B: THE GHOSTLY MINSTREL PLAYS

January 12th, 2008
The 5th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

THE BEJEWELLED SCARABS

They returned to the door at the base of the stairs. Tee was able to easily pick the lock and then swing it open.

The walls of the thirty-foot long chamber beyond the doors gently curved out and then curved back to a narrow open doorway. Everywhere Tee looked, the walls and floor of the chamber glittered brightly in their torchlight. It took a moment for her to realize that they were completely covered in the gleaming carapaces of large scarab beetles… and that each carapace appeared to be studded with large gemstones.

However, none of them were moving. It appeared that all of the scarabs were dead.

Unfortunately, appearances could be deceiving: As Tee crossed the threshold of the room, a metallic skittering filled the room and the layers of bejeweled scarabs began shifting.

One of them scurried out into the center of the room, stopped, and turned towards to Tee. Before she could react, one of the diamonds studded upon the scarab’s back flared with a blinding brightness.

Tee stumbled back, her eyes overwhelmed by the flash. Several of the others who had also been standing in the doorway were blinded, too.

Agnarr barged his way into the room and Tor followed, but the tight quarters made it difficult for them to find or hit the scarabs. Indeed, not all of the scarabs  in the room were moving – only some of them. But these were now spitting painful acid and emitting blasts of impossibly cold air which withered the skin where they touched.

After several minutes of complete disarray, it seemed as if they were beginning to get the upper hand. Several of the scarabs had been smashed, and the frequency of their attacks – and the blinding flashes of light – were decreasing as their numbers were thinned.

Unfortunately, the sounds of their struggle had attracted the attention of something else: A mechanical creature – lithe and angular with a body of smooth blue-gray metal – rounded the far corner. Vicious tines protruded from the joints along its arms, legs, and curved spine.

They were out of position and taken by surprise. Worse yet, the scarabs had not yet been vanquished – the diamond scarabs continued to emit their blinding flashes of light, leaving them painfully vulnerable to the construct’s slashing tines, crushing blows, and serrated fangs.

Agnarr and Tor tried to move into a defensive front – blocking the powerful construct from their more vulnerable comrades. Unfortunately, this proved disastrous. Every few moments the construct’s single eye – a malevolent green orb – would pulse brightly, and in that instant powerful telepathic waves filled with hate and rage would wash over those nearest to it.

Agnarr almost immediately succumbed to the telepathic assault, and immediately turned on Dominic – who was standing directly behind him. Tor shouted a warning, but before anyone could react, Agnarr’s greatsword had smote Dominic to the floor. The powerful blow dropped the priest to his knees, blood gushing from his chest. (more…)

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 15A: THE LABYRINTH’S MACHINES

January 12th, 2008
The 5th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

Taking another turn down a hallway led them to a complex of three large chambers. In the center chamber, a massive apparatus of machinery had been built up in the middle of the room. Nearly ten feet across, it extended from the floor to the ceiling.

The far wall of this chamber was inset with a large, ten-foot wide sheet of smoky, opaque glass flanked by two doors.

To the left and the right, the other two chambers of the complex lay down short halls. In each of these rooms, short flights of stairs led up to large, coffin-like boxes of metal lying on the floor. To either side of these boxes were thick, metallic rods thrusting up from the floor with large, bulbous ends.

For now, Tee skirted around the machinery and checked out the doors. They were unlocked, leading to a small side chamber from which one could look through the smoky glass and observe the outer chamber. The northern all of the side chamber was covered in a morass of machinery – wires, glass tubes partially filled with liquid, convoluted gearworks, and the like.

Ranthir was fascinated. He had never seen anything like it before. It quickly became apparent that both the equipment in the side chamber and the main chamber was actually sunk into the floor, and probably connected to each other.

Tee moved to the coffin-like metal boxes. She discovered that their lids could be rotated to one side, revealing an interior surface coated with twisting tubes of glass. These formed coccoon-like depressions – one apparently shaped for a humanoid; the other for a large dog or wolf. Both were outfitted with manacles.

Ranthir, meanwhile, believed he had puzzled out the strange activation method used by the equipment: Several metallic spheres would need to be “spun up” by hand and then, while those were still in motion, three levers would need be flipped, and, at last, a button pushed.

“Should we try it?” Elestra asked. (more…)

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 14D: IN THE BEAST PITS

January 5th, 2008
The 5th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

They headed south, down the only remaining hallway. Like the hall to the north, this hall was lined with statue niches – each containing the fiercesome aspect of an orcish warrior.

After sixty feet or so, the hall ended in another large chamber. What appeared to have once been an extremely large fountain stood in the middle of the room, but if there had once been water there it was long gone now.

On a pedestal in the center of the fountain were three statues, each depicting a wolf-like creature: One appeared to be a wolf of prodigious size. Another gaped saber-like fangs and had bony protrusions jutting from its spine, skull, and ribs down to a serpentine tail ending in a bulb of bone. The third appeared almost pantherish, with tendrils emerging from its shoulders.

“What are they?” Elestra asked.

“For those two,” Agnarr said, pointing to the second and third, “I do not know. But the one in the center is a dire wolf. They are well known in the north.”

Three more halls led away from this chamber: The ones to the west and the south were shrouded by badly tattered drapes of black cloth. To the east, the hallway stood open — but after about twenty feet was blockaded with a great mass of broken furniture, large chunks of rock, and the like.

“Who do you suppose did that?” Elestra asked, gesturing towards the blockade. (more…)

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 14C: THE TEMPLE OF EBONY

January 5th, 2008
The 5th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

Intrigued by these discoveries, Ranthir selected one jar from each of the six rooms and slipped them into his bag of holding.

They had now opened all of the doors on the upper level and were prepared to go down to the lower level. This proved slightly troublesome: There was a ladder on the iron catwalk in the middle of the chamber, but it had been rusted into a raised position. So, in lieu of that, they simply pitoned a knotted rope to the floor and climbed down along one of the walls.

Most of the rooms on the lower level appeared to have been kennels of some sort. Those around the base of the pit itself had metal doors, but through a set of double doors in the south wall of the pit there was a long hallway flanked by nearly a dozen more rooms with wooden doors that were almost entirely rotten away from sheer age. Large channels from these rooms led out to a 6-inch wide gap in the middle of the hall’s floor. Beneath this gap there was a 50-foot-pit down which charnel waste was apparently washed.

Another door off the pit led to a room filled with weapons hung from iron racks covering the walls. All of these weapons were designed for beasts: Claw-like tines; serrated harnesses; and the like. All of them seemed to be crafted to appear as vicious and merciless as possible. Many were stained with blood. The vast array was impressive in itself, but a closer inspection revealed that most of them were unusable: Either custom-crafted for unusual creatures; with important bits rotted away; or their metal rusting and fatigued from age.

THE TEMPLE OF EBONY

At the far end of the kennel hall, another set of iron doors led out to a hallway which took a sharp turn off to the west. From there the hallway branched again, and the decision was made – with Ranthir once again studying his partially completed map of the upper level – to return to the upper level and finish exploring there before proceeding to the lower level.

They climbed back up their rope and returned to the first major chamber they had entered after leaving the laboratories that had been inhabited by the bloodwights: The large room flanked by four massive statues of Ghul.

From here there were four halls: To west lay the bloodwight laboratories and they had explored everything to the north. This left the hall to the east – which they could see ended in a set of large iron doors – and the hall to the south.

They decided to start with the hall to the east: The iron doors opened onto a large room paved in glistening ebony. It rose in three tiers. Two horrific statues stood in the corners of the second tier. To the left a twisting pillar of coiled tendrils and to the right a squat monstrosity.

In the center of the third tier, at the top of the room, there was a slab of black ebony with the appearance of an altar.

The room seemed permeated with a palpable sense of evil, but Tee took a deep breath and slipped through the door. A cursory examination turned up no hidden exits or treasures, but she did discover that inscriptions had been written in a strange and alien tongue upon the base of the two statues on the second tier.

Ranthir, hearing this, entered the room himself and went up to study the statues. He confirmed that the language was completely unknown and, surprisingly, his magical arts gave him no translation, either.

Tee, meanwhile, had been exploring the uppermost tier. The altar or slab in the center of this tier was completely featureless, except – Tee discovered – for a small sigil that had been carved into the rear corner of the altar:

Ranthir finished carefully copying down the inscriptions on the statues into a journal and then joined Tee to inspect the altar sigil. It wasn’t familiar to him, either, but he took the time to copy it as well.

Then they left. As they passed through the doors and shut them behind them, they could feel a palpable sense of dread sluicing off of them like an oil slick.

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