Session #35 - The Scrivener

 Katla used magic to clear away enough rubble to allow them all to pass through the doorway.  They emerged in a room thirty feet wide and twenty feet deep with a surprisingly high ceiling.  Each wall had a ten foot by ten foot opening leading into another room.  Four wood tables covered in dust sat forlornly with disuse.  

Kent had already continued forward into the opening across from the entrance.  He was tapping his foot on a specific spot on the floor.  “Sounds different than then rest,” he said to no one in particular, then turned his gaze to the large fresco covering the far wall.  Life-sized wizards waged a magical battle against a black dragon, which shot lightning from its mouth.  The rogue studied the image with a practiced eye, then walked toward one of the wizards, his arm reached out as if to grab something.

“Kent, what are you doing?” Almont asked.

Katla turned to see the dwarf about to touch the fresco.  She made eye contact with Almont and both stepped back behind the wall next to the opening.  Donyxn had already wandered off to the room to the right.

Kent’s keen perceptions noticed that a wand held by one of the wizards was in fact an actual object.  He grabbed it, studying the shape.  It was a plain metal item, tapered at one end.  

Almont peeked around the corner and saw Kent look to his left, then walk that direction.  An image of a chest was on the fresco and the rogue studied it for a moment, looked at the wand, and…

“Uh oh,” said Almont, pulling his head back behind the wall.

A bolt of lighting shot out of the room, continuing through the partially obstructed doorway before crashing into the wall of the stairwell.  A loud thunderclap followed, as did a yelp.  

Almont and Katla both emerged into the room ready to fight, only to find Kent sitting on the floor about ten feet from the fresco, the brim of his hat smoldering slightly.  The metal wand stuck out form the wall.  Kent had shoved it into the chest’s keyhole, the chest being an actual object expertly attached to the wall in a way that made it appear to be a part of the fresco.

Perhaps most startling, however, was the black dragon that now stood in the corner of the room, stretching its wings and tail.

None of the three moved as they watched the dragon warily.  Black dragons were evil, and while this wasn’t a full-sized adult, it was quite large and undoubtedly extremely dangerous, all the more so in a confined space such as this.  The dragon turned its head side to side, its vertebrae cracking as it did so.

Donyxn casually rounded the corner.  “So what’s all this racket… oh.”  He stopped dead in his tracks, slowly moving his hands from his sides in a non-threatening gesture and breaking into a fanged smile.  “Well hello there,” he said in the draconic tongue.

“I am ravenous,” the dragon hissed in common.  “And bored.  I have been confined here for some time.”  Its voice crackled with electrical energy.  

Kent regained his feet and patted the singed portion of his hat before putting it back on his head.  “I would imagine so.  How did you find yourself here?”

The dragon cocked its head and looked at Kent.  Almont sensed that it was trying to decide whether to answer, or to eat the dwarf.  It then turned to the fresco.  “These wizards imprisoned me here to guard this place.”  

A blast of lightning emerged from its mouth and blasted down he length of the fresco, charring the images of the wizards.  It turned back to the group.  “You are not my friends.  But you look to have your own business here, which does not concern me.”

The four adventures and dragon stared at each other in a standoff as time seemed to slow, the tension building painfully.

Kent pulled a flask from inside his coat and took a swig.  “Well, sounds like we’re all good then,” he said cheerfully.  He turned to the others and smiled, then back to the dragon.  “We still have a bit of poking around to do here, you know, adventuring and all that,” he continued, waving his hands about dramatically.  “I assume you’ll be wanting to leave?  Stairs are right there.”  He cocked his head, indicating the way.

If a dragon could look confused, this one did.  “You will allow me to leave this place without a fight?”

Kent shrugged.  “We have no quarrel with you.  So unless you have one with us…”

The others all moved away from the opening, providing a clear path for the dragon.  It eyed them warily for a few seconds before moving toward the stairwell.  Kent had to dive to the side to avoid being whipped by its tail as it passed.

The dragon entered the stairwell, looked up, then looked back to the group.  After a few seconds it leapt into the air. A few seconds later they heard it crash through the ceiling, followed by some dirt and rocks falling down from above.  

They waited silently for a few moments, straining their ears for any indication the dragon was returning.

“Well, that’s that then,” Kent said, rubbing his hands together.  “What’s next?”

Almont walked back to the middle of the room, stopping at the spot Kent had been tapping his foot on.  The cleric grabbed his warhammer and smashed it down into the stone floor, a section of which disintegrated under the force of the blow.  He reached inside and pulled out a red robe.  It had multiple eyes of various shapes and sizes stitched onto it.

“A Robe of Eyes,” Katla said, raising an eyebrow.  “It will allow you to see in 360 degrees, as well as see those things that should not normally be visible.”

Almont put on the robe, his eyes growing wide.  “It’s… it’s a bit much to take in.”  He turned in a circle.  “Portions of this space appear to be connected to the ethereal plane, though I cannot see through them.”

Katla considered this.  “Which could mean we may get some company."

The room the right contained a dozen cots in various states of decay.  At the far end of the room was a tunnel carved into the wall.  Even those with darkvision could not see past a certain point.

The room to the left was empty other than some lecterns stacked in one corner.  The far wall was convex with a metal door in its center.  Three glyphs were carved into the wall on either side of and above the door.  

“Has anyone seen anything here that looks like it could be inserted into these glyphs?” Almont asked.

Kent approached the metal door and reached toward the glyph to its left.

“Kent, you really shouldn’t…” Katla started, but it was too late.  

The dwarf traced the shape of the glyph with his fingers, then took a step backward.  He turned back to the others.  “Nothing to worry about, lass.”

Kent didn’t see the blue spectral figure that came into being behind him.  

“Um, Kent,” Donyxh said, pointing.

Kent turned and leapt back, startled.  The specter did not speak, but instead began to slowly walk the perimeter of the room.  It did not register their presence in any way.

After completing a circuit of the room the specter stopped and turned to the group, seeming to notice them for the very first time.  “You are not supposed to be here.”

“Well we’d rather not be,” said Kent.  “But we have business with the Scrivener.”

“I have been called that before,” the specter said.

“Oh great, then perhaps you can explain this.”  Kent rolled up his left sleeve, showing the tattoo beneath.

“Indeed, that is my writing,” said the specter.  “It appears you read the book.  You should not have done that.”

“That’s a bit of an understatement, don’t you think?” asked Kent.  

“My name is Zyrian,” said the specter.  “I was charged with writing the foul book that was used to capture and contain the soul of the Princess of Shadowglass, the foul Nintra Siotta.  Her corporeal form is on the other side of the door behind me.  Should the book be destroyed, she would regain her powers.”  Zyrian was silent for a moment, then looked concerned.  “You did not bring the book here, did you?”

“Of course not,” replied Kent.  “Do we look like idiots?”

Zyrian looked at each of them in turn.  “Not all of you.”

“Right,” agreed Kent.  “So how can we get this witch’s voice out of our heads?  Sounds like we just need to go through that door and kill her.”

“She is quite powerful,” warned Zyrian.  “And there are also powerful guardians here tasked with preventing anyone from entering that room.”

“Yes, we encountered your dragon,” Almont said.  “It decided it would rather leave that fight.” 

Zyrian nodded.  “It was an evil beast in its own right.  I counseled against making it a guardian, but the mages believed it would attack any creature that it encountered.  It would appear they were wrong.  I’m afraid, however, that the other guardians will be more, shall we say, motivated.”

Kent rubbed his temples with the heels of his palms.  “Just tell us what we have to kill to get in there, so we can kill her and get her voice out of our heads.”

“The keys for the glyphs warding the door are found inside three stone golems,” Zyrian said.  “One was destroyed previously.”  He gestured to the pile of rubble in and around the doorway leading back to the staircase.  “The other two will come, but only if someone tries to enter the room.”

Katla began sifting through the rubble, her magic allowing her to move even the largest pieces.  While they had not noticed previously, as she sorted through the stone she found pieces that were clearly part of a golem.  

“Found it,” she said, holding up a stone shape.  

“Sounds like we need to summon the other two then.”  Almont removed the warhammer from his belt and strode toward the metal door.

“Perhaps we should develop a plan first, Almont,” Katla said, returning to the room.

The cleric looked back over his shoulder.  “The plan is, I hit this door with my hammer.  They come.  We kill them.”

Donyxn smiled, notching a pair of arrows in his bow.  “I like this plan.  Simple and straight-forward.”

Almont turned back to the door and banged upon it three times with his hammer.  He turned back to the group.  Kent frowned as he saw the eyes on Almont’s robe blinking.

“They’re coming,” said the cleric.  “The barriers between our plane and the ethereal are softening.  They will be here in a moment.”

The wall to their left shimmered and a pair of mummified corpses shambled through.  Almont touched his holy symbol and said firmly, “Be gone.”  The two undead creatures blew apart into clouds of dust, the wall solidifying again behind them.

“Well that was easy enough then,” said Kent.

A rumbling sound came from the bunk room, followed by another, and then another.

“It’s about to get harder,” Katla said as she shaped a ball of rippling energy between her hands.

The sorceress was right.  Two fifteen foot tall stone golems and ten more mummies closed on them from the other rooms.

Their enemies were sturdy, but they were also slow, and the party took advantage of their ranged spells, arrows and bolts to inflict considerable damage before the creatures could close with them.  One golem crumbled and half the mummies were slain before the combat got close.  

But get close it did.  Donyxn found himself being pummeled by the golem, unable to get away from its long and powerful reach.  Almont and Katla battered the monstrosity but it continued to rain blows upon the hapless tiefling even as the others broke chunks of it off with their attacks.

Kent, meanwhile, took on a spectral form of his own, flying past the golem and engaging the remaining mummies, keeping them from attacking the others.  His scimitar cut down the undead one after another.  

The loud crack of cleaving stone behind him told Kent that the others had finished off the golem.  Almont came forward and annihilated a mummy with his hammer, while a fire bolt from Katla set another alight.  Kent struck down the last, and the room fell quiet.  Except for Donyxn’s moaning.

The ranger stood and leaned against the wall, his own blackish blood on his face.  Kent took on his normal form, walked over to his friend, and offered his flask.  Donyxn nodded, accepting it and taking a swig while Kent dusted off the tiefling’s clothes.

Almont and Katla retrieved the other two glyph keys and joined their friends back in the room.  Everyone other than Donyxn came through the battle relatively unscathed, but Almont could see that Donyxn would need some healing magic before he would be ready to take on Nintra Siotta.

“This time,” said the cleric, “we will need a plan.”