With minion deaths from energy attacks piling up, the Ninth seeks clarity on the attacks.
Renewed questioning of the Gollem raises more questions. So the Ninth turns to divine magics. Fortunately, their resident cleric is practiced in dealing with the dead. The priestess of the Midnight Lord speaks with the dead and in the questioning finds two vital pieces of information. First, the Gollum is killing minions who get too close to it. And Second, there's a separate attack coming from glowing balls of light. Something else is in the horn! And their Gollem is a sociopath but that worries the Knot less.
Using magic to see invisible creatures along with the divine scrying of the Horn, Galen begins scouring the Horn. But not finding much, and taking a long time to do it, others come up with an alternative. Mardus & Brother Summit act as bait, disguised as minions, patrolling the evil halls of the Horn separately.. And like clockwork, Mardus is attacked by a half dozen Will O' Wisps. Using the scrying of the horn and the full arcane conjuring might Galen has developed, he's able to transport an assault force from the sanctum down to Mardus's side. At first the invisible creatures prove challenging, but massive electricity resistance from the Oracle of Hell, coupled with Galen's always effective Glitterdust renders the threat moot.
And though a couple Wisps manage to flee, they're the ones in terror, not their intended victim Mardus who's parting words "And stay out!" seem to hit home regardless of the language barrier. For the Wisps never return to the Horn, at least as long as it remains standing.
Over the next few weeks things seem quite. It's during that time when Brother Summit, who'd been meditating for a while throughout the Horn decides he's ready for a real challenge. He decides to meditate in a room in the Horn specifically meant for the (likely mad) priests of Vetra-Kali to commune with the outer-planes.
Exposing his mind to untold psychic energy, his thoughts are nearly ripped asunder. But he swims in the outer planes, seeing places hardly imaginable, including untold suffering and savagery. But refusing to step down to the challenge, he meditates for three straight days. During that time, he opts to ignore the current struggles of Hell & learning more about the possible planer machinations of Master Thorn and chooses instead to focus on the dark places between the stars. There his mind encounters and battles horrors behind reason. Crazed hounds backed by some shadowy spider creature. In the end, Brother Summit manages to retrain his sanity and is stronger for his struggles, but still. Those hounds saw him. They knew of him. And they are still out there, wanting to kill him. Them and their dark spider-like master...
Still to the rest of the Knot has an uneventful time as the weeks slip by.
With less than a week remaining, the Knot begins discussing evacuating the Horn of all but a handful of guards. They move their prize prisoner, the Blood of the Victor, to the sanctum, along with all their gear. And begin preparing the minions for evacuation
That's when the earthquake strikes. Already there have been a couple tremors. But they pale in comparison to the revolt the earth gives against the unholy ritual being performed on it's surface. Massive hunks of the Horn go tumbling into the forest below. And worse, the handful of prisoners they were housing flee. Including one inquisition guard & the two surviving members of the Banner Varnet. Still, their prize is safe in the Sanctum.
Over the next day, the minions all flee north to the relative safety of Farholde, former Seventh Knot member, Trik coordinating the evacuation. The Knot says behind to finish what they started along with the ever reliable Grumblejack.
They speak with the Green Dragon near by & offer even more money if the dragon will be a more active scout & skirmisher. The dragon agrees, provided the Sanctum of the Horn can remain open, for him to be able to flee into should the feared silver dragon ever attack.
Agreeing to the coin & offer of protection, they gain the allegiance of the Green Dragon. Which they add to their other guards, a crazed Gollem, a power hungry wraith, two daemons bound to serve the Horn, a cult of Boggards and a host of undead. But no partridge or pear tree could be found...
In the evening after the earth quake a surprise happens. The green energy field shimmers away around the entrance to the sanctum and screeching in from the heavens come a flight of giant eagles, their leader, a multi-colored eagle commanding from the rear.
The sanctum of the Horn is turned into a cacophony of noises. During the fight the commanding eagle teleported onto the shrine & tried to rip the emerald eyes from the statue of Vetra-Kali but the swift actions of the Knot prevented the bird from leaving alive. After the death of their leader, the eagles break & try to flee, but the looming presence of the young Green Dragon seals their fate, as they are blasted out of the sky with acid.
The following day the last of the minions flee the Horn and slip into the Caer Bryr. That afternoon, while on "scrying" patrol around the Horn, Galen spots an odd sight. He spots large piles of mud all over the cavern entrance. Then he spots a boggard arm & spear poking out of the mud, un-moving. The Boggards have been attacked!
Still using his magical scrying via the Shrine, Galen follows the mud trail & finds the Boggard village completely destroyed. The only survivors he spots are a half dozen or so Boggards hold up in the Shaman's hut. The mud trail continues past the village and ends in a nearby pool of bubbling mud.
Galen turns to Emmerick as says "I think something wasn't attacking into the caverns, but rather something came out." Emmerick's response was "So something left into the forest?" Galen's response "That, or it could be climbing up the side of the horn..."
Then there's a shout from Quell as two large monstrosities made entirely of mud rise up over lip of the Sanctum balcony and move forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment