ADVENTURE LOG XXIV

THE BEATEN PATH

The Flowers and the merchant family followed Duskwarden Palance up the earthen ramp. Palance and Travis walked ahead, Smiling Jack Freeman guided the horses pulling his cart, Focker, Owlet, and Taylan lounged within keeping Jack’s two daughters Hazel and Peridot company, while Calli, Gale, and then Byron pulled up the rear. The mind-bending height of the sheer cliff loomed, ready to swallow them into the silent darkness, when a voice called out, “Palance!” Everyone turned as one to see a stocky dwarven Duskwarden jogging up, waving his compatriot over. Palance met him halfway, a feat his taller human legs didn’t need to accelerate to accomplish.

While the Duskwardens conversed just out of earshot, all the Flowers except Taylan felt the now familar burn of the acidic scrying censor watching them again. Not wanting to waste a dispel, they largely ignored it, and it vanished again moments later.

Palance looked up at Travis, and then clapped the dwarf on the shoulder before returning to the party. “Sorry about this. It seems the next group along is a bit light on members. One of the travellers is a half-orc merchant who’s a bit wary of us. Travis, would you and one of your crew agree to join them? They could use the extra muscle.”

Travis readily agreed, and Taylan volunteered to join ‘big brother Travis’ so that they’d have both muscle and magic. “See you at the top,” Travis nodded, and the two fell back to follow the dwarf to the other party.

Those remaining repositioned themselves so that Calli reluctantly joined Jack’s pre-teen daughters in the cart to help keep them quiet and calm. Calli sent her tiny lyrakien Rune ahead to scout with her darkvision and warn Palance if anything seemed out of place ahead of their path.

They set off once more, and entered the vast rock wall. The temperature dropped noticeably once they were inside in the darkness, and at once the amulets they had been given for the journey began emitting a soft green glow. It was enough for those walking to keep their footing, without causing too much light spill. What light did fall on their surroundings through the winding passages made it seem as though they were travelling through time. The path took them through caverns, rooms, and other crafted areas, all seemingly carved in entirely different time periods. One of the first places of interest was an abandoned great hall lined with grand columns that led to an ancient throne. In the distorted shadows they could make out doorways sealed by brick or stone along the side walls, but their path took them behind the seat itself to a large opening broken through the wall.

At times the path dropped off into darkness and they had to cautiously guide the horses and cart over wooden planks to where it continued. For a while they followed what seemed to be a dried-up river bed, until the Duskwarden led them through another rough opening into what appeared to be someone’s sitting room. It seemed to have almost fallen through from above. They could make out ordinary shapes of a table and chairs, but over the centuries moisture had dripped from the limestone calcifying everything within under layers of buildup.

The twisting path sometimes seemed to go deeper into the earth, then suddenly they’d make a turn and find they were on a path along the outer cliff face. Their way never seemed very steep, so they were surprised to find they were already nearly a hundred feet up in the air. All along Rune would flit ahead, then reappear and make energetic gestures as she tried to mime what she had seen. On one of her returns she seemed worried, but Palance kindly shook his head to indicate it was nothing to be concerned about. She stayed near until the party had reached it, and it turned out to be a large archway with massive demon heads mounted surrounding it. Large boulders filled the doorway completely, and Palance pointed at the Duskwarden symbol on his hat, and then the boulders, indicating they had been the ones to seal it off.

It continued like this until on one of Rune’s returns, Palance actually frowned. He gestured for them all to go slow, until they reached another of the paths to the outside. He had them wait while the took a few steps out, and then returned, taking out some paper and a bit of charcoal. He explained there was a giant cavern in the cliff face ahead that wasn’t there that morning, and that it seemed completely filled with a thick opaque mist.

The Flowers exchanged uneasy looks, remembering the last time they got caught by mysterious mists, and not eager to repeat the experience. Calli wrote a note asking Rune to sense if it radiated the same type of evil, but she clumsily replied (the charcoal was nearly as big as she was) that the ‘missed’ had no evil, but traces of magic. There was no way forward but through, however, so they agreed to stay to the outer edge of the 10-foot wide path, with Byron and Nightingale walking along the inside of the path by the cart, keeping an eye out for anything attempting to lunge at them from within the fresh cavern in case it tried to snatch someone within, or push them off into the open air.

(trigger warning: animal cruelty)

Their caution was valid, but their focus proved to be in the wrong direction. About half way along there was a great rush of wind as an adult white dragon swooped past from below, grabbing the cart, and its inhabitants, in its talons on the way past, diving into the mist-obscured cavern. Jack’s daughters screamed, and the horses squealed out as they were violently jerked into the air and drug along, trapped by their tack connected to the cart. Byron’s reflexes kicked in and he caught the side of the cart as it was lifted away, clinging on to stay with the precious living cargo inside. The maneuver nearly wrenched his arm from his socket, but he successfully rode it out and landed heavily next to the cart as the dragon unceremoniously dropped it far within the cavern. One of the horses abruptly stopped making any sound at all, the fall having mercifully broken it’s neck. The other was less lucky, breaking legs only, and it continued to make distressed cries as it struggled.

Within the cart the inhabitants had also been tossed violently about. Focker and Owlet, being winged, simply stayed in the air on the first disturbance. Calli called upon her dance lessons to maintain her balance within, and even managed to sweep Hazel into her arms to shield her from the brunt of the jostling, but the slightly older sister was out of reach, and then out of sight, as the girl was flung from the cart.

With one hand Nightingale removed a tube from his waistcoat pocket, thumbed the cork off, and downed the contents that would reduce any damage he took by half, and with his other hand he made his precisely-controlled gestures to activate haste on himself. Chucking the bottle, he drew one of his rapiers and sped into the fog. He could see nothing inside, the light from the outside was filtered through the thick clouds, making it all seem dreamlike. He was only a few feet from the cart when he was finally able to see it. The air swirled nearby, as if something massive had took flight, and he then heard a scrabbling of rocks above. A deep hissing voice came from the area, “This is your fault. This is all your faults! You should’ve just given her the amulet! But give me Taylan now, and I’ll let you go.”

“Come down here and we’ll talk about it,” Byron calmly invited the voice in the fog within claws’ reach.

Focker followed his master’s voice til he reached the barbarian’s side, and whispered, “What should I do, boss?”

“Find the girl.” Byron had noticed the child wasn’t with her sister and Calli in the cart any longer. Focker nodded and zipped off into the smoke. The tall man reached out an arm to Hazel, “Come on, we need to be off.”

“Where’s my sister?” She whimpered, as Calli guided her to him.

Keeping an eye in the direction of the dragon’s voice, he answered sternly, but without menace, “We’ll find her, but we’re off. Now.” Once she was within reach he lowered her to the ground and began moving around the cart, keeping it and himself between the dragon and the girl.

Calli hopped down and moved away from the cart towards the way they entered, hoping to be a distraction while Byron got the girl away. She addressed their attacker with words woven in magic, “Knowing Taylan, I thought better of white dragons. Why would you follow her, when we’ve outsmarted her so many times already? Why not join us? We could put an end to this for you.”

Rune appeared at her shoulder in a blur of movement, taking a seat there and waiting for instruction. Calli whispered for the lyrakien to focus her detect evil to get an idea of how far the monster was. Rune scrunched up her face, and her eyes went wide. “I can feel him, but there are other things too, further away…”

Duskwarden Palance cursed, told Jack to stay on the path, and plunged after his missing party. He found Byron and Hazel first, “We have to get out of here! Things will be coming!”

Nightingale took position behind Calli, one hand on her unoccupied shoulder, the other holding his rapier at the ready, and he shadowed her movement as he had the past seven years.

The dragon answered Calli, anger and frustration building in his hissing words like steam from a kettle. “She has my children!” The proclamation weighed heavy as the cruelty of the green dragon sunk in. Her attempt to fascinate him had failed. They heard a scrabbling sound, and then a rumbling getting louder.

“This way, quick, quick!” they heard Focker in the distance, and then his voice was cut off in the mighty crashing of boulders. The air was choked with dirt and shards of rock flung from the cave-in.

Byron shielded the girl until it settled, and then the two followed Palance to where the opening had been- but was no more. Byron pressed his ear to the rocks and heard his small follower crying out for him on the other side. “Focker, shhh!” The drake’s keen ears heard, and comforted that Byron lived, ceased his wailing.

Calli cast a dispel magic on the mist surrounding them, and it slowly began to thin in her immediate vicinity, and she and Gale rushed to reach the rubble blocking their exit. When they’d moved about 20 feet, however, the mist was once more thickened. Calli and Gale realized he must have cast it multiple times to fill the cavern. Frustrated, Calli felt along the cave-in, hoping to find a gap. She reached the other side of the new wall, where Byron, Hazel, and Palance had been doing the same in the opposite direction. They were trapped.

Wanting to at least burn away the obscuring mist so they could better defend themselves, Nightingale turned back and took his hand from Calli’s shoulder. He flung it in the direction of the cart, and a massive fireball erupted upon it, burning out much of the fog with steamy heat. The struggling horse’s cries ended at once. In the light of the fire they could get see the depth of the cavern behind the burning cart.

Rune pointed above, where mist still obscured the dragon, and indicated about how far away she was sensing his evil. Nightingale again flung out a hand, not needing to see his target to unleash another fireball in the area she’d indicated. They heard an angry roar, and Calli tried again to reason with him. “Her having your children is all the more reason you should join with us to take her down. Otherwise what’s to stop her doing this again any time she needs you to be her errand boy?”

“No! She said you’d do this! You can’t be trusted!” Out of the mist the dragon swooped down upon them, jaws wide and spewing icy death at them. All tried to dodge, but the overwhelming cold still bit into their flesh, even for those who avoided the brunt of the attack. Rune, being only tiny, was coated in frost and hanging on by a thread. The dragon kept moving, landing to cling near the ceiling on the opposite side.

Byron, frustrated at his inability to reach the monster, moved back into the remaining thick mist in the corner just enough to make it harder for the dragon to target him, but kept his claws ready to strike if it came low enough on the next fly-by.

Calli maneuvered Hazel deeper into the mist behind him, and handed over the magic cudgel they’d picked up on their last strange adventure through evil mists. She instructed how to say the activation words carefully, and when Hazel repeated them, the Icon of the Unseen Saint must have reacted in some way the girl could sense, because her eyes went wide as the protection from evil spell settled upon her. Calli gave Hazel a warm smile, and put a finger to her lips to remind her to keep silent, and then moved back out of the mist. She focused on another patch of the fog nearer the dragon and attempted to dispel it, as well, but the magic failed to take hold. Rune placed a tiny, cold hand on Calli’s neck and sent some healing into her mistress to repair what the ice had done.

The Duskwarden drew his crossbow, hands shaking slightly, and moved until he could see his target. His training served him well, as once he’d found it, his bolt struck true, lodging between scales in a massive white shoulder.

Not wanting everyone to be in another line for the next attack, Gale situated himself further to one side, and then lowered his casting hand to the rocky ground. The flickering shadows of his fingers cast by the burning cart turned, and defying reality sped across the cave and up the far wall to where the dragon perched. Black tentacles erupted from the wall around it, slithering around the creature attempting to hold it tight, but anywhere they wrapped the dragon shook them off as no more than a mere annoyance.

“GIVE ME TAYLAN,” it bellowed, and a wave of intent slammed into the party, trying to drive fear deep into their hearts. They stood strong, only Rune felt the influence, and immediately vanished back to wherever she goes when not summoned by the Eagle Harp. The dragon’s gaze settled on Nightingale, and the reptilian eyes went white. Gale surmised the dragon had just cast a true strike upon him, meaning whatever villainy it tried next, it would be almost certain to hit. Nightingale lifted his chin in defiance, inviting the attempt.

Byron witnessed this silent exchange, and realizing the dragon would be making a run at Nightingale, prepared himself to pounce upon it once it got within range.

Calli, feeling there was no point trying to keep the noise down with the dragon screaming at them, began to sing. The inspire courage would aid her allies not just in battle, but also in keeping them from giving in to the fear the adult dragon radiated.

Palance’s next bolt went wide, so he tucked himself back into the mist to stand in front of Hazel.

Another fireball exploded around the dragon, who ignored it entirely and launched himself from the rockface to avoid the blast, and dove straight at the offending magus. As soon as the dragon landed, Byron charged out to leap upon it. His spiked gauntlets flamed into life as he targeted an exposed curve of belly where the scales were thinner, claw and fire scoring wounds. The hide was stubbornly thick, and the magical cold from his ring meant nothing to it. The dragon paid no notice, focused as he was on getting his jaws around Nightingale. The long snout snuck under his guard and bit into torso, going for his vitals with startling accuracy. Gale’s breath rapidly expelled as he tensed from the pain, grateful for the defensive potion he took rapidly knitting back together half of everything done to him. In such close proximity, both Byron and Nightingale felt the sting of the cold that radiated off the dragon.

Calli continued her song as she pulled out her holy light crossbow, and fired two shots in rapid succession at the creature she could finally see to target, but they ricocheted harmlessly off the tough scale. Palance again stepped out of the fog to shoot himself, with no more luck than before. Nightingale began stabbing at the monster, but it swerved its head on its long neck so that they, too, glanced off the scales. Byron, frustrated with how difficult the dragon was to hit, fueled his rage into his strikes, and further carved open the gouge he’d started. The dragon finally flinched away from the pain, and took back to the air to get away from the human digging into its flesh. Both men got in a successful attack as it withdrew, but Gale’s attempt to release magical lightning into his failed- he wasn’t able to overcome the dragons natural ability to harmlessly disperse spells directed at it.

Once safely in the air the dragon circled back and again opened his mouth wide, blasting the visible adults with another cone of cold. Byron was the only one able to nimbly avoid the attack, the other three cried out. Calli staggered back, icicles briefly lodged in the arm she rose to protect her face, and she felt a small spot of warmth activate on her forehead as the one-time cure serious blessing little Emma had bestowed upon her kicked in. Some of her injuries closed themselves, and she transformed the urgency to escape she felt into a haste spell for the party.

Even with the extra boost, Palance’s next two shots failed to reach the dragon. He was also looking worse for wear. Nightingale sent another fireball after the retreating dragon, but the summoned fire couldn’t get through the dragon’s magical resistance. It landed high on the rock wall, talons cracking stone for purchase.

Byron gritted his teeth in anger, lamenting his lack of range. “We need to take the fight to him!” He readied his attacks and looked at Calli, asking with his eyes if her jaunt spell could help. She furrowed her brows and shook her head, keeping her music going for whatever came next.

“Brilliant idea, chum,” Nightingale agreed, as his dimension door could do what hers could not, and he ran over to the barbarian. “Brace yourself,” he warned, and then clapped Byron on the shoulder. They vanished in a gold wave of light, reappearing directly upon the dragon’s back. They landed as if in saddle, Gale behind Byron. Sharp cold bit into their nethers, but they ignored it and Byron began savaging. Bone claw and flaming gauntlet together, he started hacking off thick scales protecting the spinal column beneath him. The dragon arched, making a sound like a deep squeal.

Palance continued shooting his crossbow, managing to sink one into the exposed throat of the beast as it again roared a demand to produce the missing Taylan.

The dragon snapped his head around to view the stowaways, and lashed out at Nightingale with tail and wings, trying to strike him off like a flea. It battered him one way, then the other, but he clenched his thighs tight and held firm- though a stream of blood was now leaking out of one nostril.

Calli, concerned for her two favorite men, wove her fingers together to create the glowing musical staves of her hold monster spell. Her determination sent it through the dragon’s resistance, but its will proved too strong, and the attempt failed. Palance sent two more bolts at the dragon, but he was overcautious not to his the passengers, and they bounced harmlessly off rock on either side.

Byron dug away at the opening he’d made, breaching the outer layer of flesh and starting work on important looking tendons. Gore splattered him with each punch.

From his place on the back of the dragon, Gale displayed a rare loss of decorum, and screamed as he thread his rapier directly between the scales and into the spine further down from the damage Byron was causing. Calli cheered encouragement from below, and with her gallant inspiration it sunk in to the hilt, and he was finally able to discharge a tremendous amount of lightning into the monster.

The dragon bucked and twisted, letting out a final ear-splitting roar. His claws made high-pitched scraping noises as he lost his balance, and then they were free-falling off the wall. Byron jammed both claws in, and Gale gripped his rapier handle as if it were a saddle horn. Together they jerked to the left, attempting to keep themselves upright as they rode the corpse 40 feet to the solid rock below, but the dead weight overpowered them, and Calli watched in horror as it landed on top of the men.

Calli and Palance ran to the body, frantically pushing against the mass to free their comrades, and they both whooped in relief when both Byron and Nightingale were alive underneath. A small glow on Nightingale’s forehead signaled the blessing of Emma’s triggering within him. All four adults were quite badly damaged after the encounter, but miraculously little Hazel was entirely unscathed, and thanks to the mist, hadn’t seen much of the battle at all.

Once they returned to their feet, Byron turned and began cursing and kicking the corpse of the dragon. Nightingale joined in, and Calli laughed in spite of herself at the image. Looking at the creature, magnificent even in death, Calli got an idea. She drew Gaedren’s dagger and began harvesting a few of the scales for ‘a project.’

Byron felt he deserved a trophy from such a mighty kill, and broke off a horn for himself. He also found what discharged bolts he could and returned them to Palance with a, “Well done!”

Nightingale, looking over the body, found a torque with dragon heads hanging around its neck, and tucked into a pouch lining the stomach, a round green scale polished to a high mirror-like shine with the word ‘Taylan’ etched within. He recalled that such things were crafted by dragon-kind to aid in scrying on specific targets, but they didn’t last forever. They fade over time. He spoke the half-elf’s name, and indeed a scene appeared in the mirror of Taylan walking next to Travis through dark tunnels, illuminated in the green glow of the dusk amulets they wore. The image seemed fuzzy, however, as if there was some sort of interference. The image only lasted a few minutes before the spell ended. Gale handed the torque out to Byron. “Amulet of Mighty Fist, seems like something you could use?”

“Go on, then.” He removed the Amulet of Natural Armor he had been wearing and passed it to Calli to add to their loot bag, and slipped on his new acquisition.

The immediate danger having passed, Palance drank a healing potion from his pack, Calli finished healing him with one of the party’s wands, and he asked them all to resume as much silence as possible while he investigated the back of the cavern for a way out. The bard continued the monotonous process of curing the rest of them up. The crackling of the still burning cart became the loudest thing in the room, with occasional large pops as something in the merchant’s stock reacted to the flames. She renewed her vow to stop riding in the cursed things between heals. At the mens’ insistence she healed herself first, then Nightingale, and finally Byron.

As she mumbled the activation word for the wand and touched it to his chest, he ran a hand gently along the side of her face, guiding her eyes to his. He whispered, “Thank you for keeping me alive.”

She stepped closer, but before she could reply, Palance was suddenly between them. She glared daggers at the Duskwarden’s interruption, but he didn’t notice. He gestured for Nightingale to join so that he could update them all in a hushed voice. “So there’s no way through the cave-in, even with your magic. This rock has a property to it that interfere’s with such things, it wouldn’t be safe.” Nightingale understood now why the scrying spell seemed fuzzy. Palance continued, “But I’ve found an opening in the back, and I think I recognize where it’s leading. But it’s not without danger. We’ll have to proceed with even more caution than before. There are things that live here in the dark that I daresay are worse than the dragon. I can get us up to Kaer Maga, but those still out on the path will need to wait. The next group will be along soon and they can join them.”

Byron shouted out to Focker’s keen ears to relay the message and assure them that Hazel was unharmed. Focker acknowledged, the last bit of noise they’d be able to make, and then the party followed Palance past the remnants of the cart into the darkness beyond.

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The journey now was much slower than previously. Before the Duskwarden had been following a set path he’d traveled numerous times, but these were uncertain routes. He’d scout ahead, and then return to guide them a ways, before gesturing for them to wait while he repeated the process. Sometimes they traveled through more natural caverns like they’d seen earlier, at times they squeezed through small cracks in rock formations, and at one point they had to dig out a smaller rockfall to move forward. The darkness felt more oppressive with the uncertainty of direction, and the party grew jumpy as time crept onward. Their ears almost rang in the silence, their own heartbeats becoming audible to them.

Nearly an hour past the dragon fight, Calli and Nightingale heard something strange, and held up hands to warn the others. They all slunk forward until the others could make it out, too. It sounded like a male having a conversation with himself in the pitch black darkness around the corner ahead. They listened for a moment.

“Dark, very dark. Bad eyes. Inexcusable. Needs investigation. Annoying. Dark. How does one see in the dark. How does one function like this? This is ridiculous. Experimentation needed.”

They looked at each other in confusion, and Palance indicated they would have to pass through to get out. The party hid their glowing necklaces and began stealthing along the wall, following the curve into the room with the man. Though they were nearly imperceptible, the voice paused, and then addressed them, louder. “Someone’s there? Who is it!?”

“Shhh!” Calli shushed him, then reluctantly uncovered her necklace to allow the green glow to spill into the room. At that, the others did as well. The light revealed a rather attractive human male in his mid-twenties sitting alone on a boulder. His garb, once a fine suit of clothes, had seen better days and were quite ragged. His shoes were worn through, and they could see the soles of his feet through them were bloodied as if he’d been walking on sharp rocks. He didn’t seem to have anything with him. Calli took out her parchment and wrote to him, ‘SOUND IS DANGEROUS HERE- USE THIS TO TALK.’ She passed him some paper and a spare charcoal stick.

He looked at it, confused for a moment, and then wrote, ‘I UNDERSTAND.’

Calli wrote, ‘FOLLOW US.’

Again the man focused on the words, had a think, and then replied, ‘WHY?’

‘WE’RE GETTING OUT.’

‘IS THAT WHAT YOU DESIRE? I CAN HELP. THE WAY OUT LIES-,’ and then the man gestured towards one of the openings they could now make out in the room. Palance got his bearings and nodded to indicate it seemed correct.

Byron thanked him, and Nightingale wrote, ‘ANYTHING WE SHOULD WORRY ABOUT? MONSTERS?’

‘NO.’

Calli struggled to read the man’s intentions, but he seemed to believe what he was saying, though his features revealed little. Byron surreptitiously got the scent of the man, to compare to some of the other human-looking creatures he’d fought in the past, but he did smell mostly human. There was something he couldn’t place, but he sensed nothing bestial or feral about him. In fact, he realized the man didn’t seem to have any pheromones at all. He wasn’t sweating or exhibiting any emotion that Byron would normally be able to pick up on. Byron wrote, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?’

‘CONTEMPLATING THE DARKNESS. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?’

‘TRYING TO GET OUT.’ Byron scribbled.

‘WHY DID YOU COME IN?’

‘FORCED.’

‘BY?’

‘WHITE DRAGON.’

‘DRAGON?!!!’ The man seemed surprised, almost excited, though his facial features still did not react as much as his mannerisms implied.

‘DON’T WORRY,’ Calli jumped in, ‘IT’S DEAD.’

Nightingale added, ‘WE KILLED IT.’

‘ARE YOU HURT?’ The man looked them over, and when they all shook their heads he nodded, ‘THAT’S GOOD.’ He started walking in the direction he’d pointed, and the others shrugged and followed behind. He left slightly bloodied footsteps in his wake as he made no move to avoid obstacles, but seemed entirely unbothered. After about five minutes he pointed down another path. ‘THROUGH THE LARGE CAVERN, ON THE OTHER SIDE BEYOND IS A WAY OUT.’

Calli gestured for him to go with them, but he refused, writing that he had ‘interests’ there he must see to. Unable to resist her curiosity, she asked his name, and he wrote William. Closer to him now, she and Nightingale noticed a necklace around his neck with a dangling cloud charm. Their arcane knowledge identified it as an arcane gentle repose spell. Something used to keep the dead from rotting. Their minds turned trying to figure out what he was. He was too clever for a zombie, too polite and preserved for a litch, didn’t look like a vampire. Calli pointed at the necklace and wrote, ‘YOUR HANDIWORK?’

‘MY FAMILY’S.’

‘ARE ALL YOUR FAMILY HERE?’ Nightingale questioned.

‘IN THE CAVERN BEYOND? NOT ALL MY FAMILY. SOME.’

‘YOU’RE FASCINATING,’ Calli wrote, ‘HOW CAN WE EXCHANGE LETTERS IN THE FUTURE?’

‘WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY.’

She’d been watching the whole time as with each new message he seemed to have to think about it before replying, and she realized he must be translating the common. ‘WHAT’S YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE?’

‘NOT THIS ONE.’

‘I MIGHT KNOW IT, IF IT WOULD BE EASIER FOR YOU,’ she followed.

Gale asked, ‘CAN YOU WRITE SOMETHING IN YOUR LANGUAGE?’

‘I’M NOT SURE HOW TO WRITE MY LANGUAGE DOWN.’

Calli was gripped with the feeling that a language without graphemes must be beyond ancient. The bard in her desperately wanted his story, but she knew they had to move on.

William wrote, ‘NICE TO MEET YOU, THOUGH. I’M SURE I’LL SEE YOU AGAIN.’ And then he turned and walked back into the darkness from whence they came.

Palance had nervously followed the conversation, and after William left wrote, ‘THAT’S VERY STRANGE. I’VE NEVER HEARD OF ANYONE LIVING DOWN HERE, MUCH LESS A FAMILY.’

There was nothing left to do but leave. They entered the large cavern and found it was full of crystals. The light from their necklaces caught in them and refracted around, giving the room an other-worldly glow. They followed the path and heard soft sounds of movement from all around. A low skittering, as if from many large insects who had hid from their light. They covered their necklaces and after a moment their eyes adjusted to find there was a soft blue glow emanating from all around them from the moving creatures hiding behind the rocks.

Calli dug a hand into the party’s Handy Haversac and removed her Red Mantis mask from within, recalling that it had various abilities that might be useful in this situation, such as darkvision. She settled it over her curls, and Byron and Nightingale saw this and put theirs on, as well. Palance looked curiously at the strange bug-like helmets, but in the blue light of the cave the red masks looked black, and he didn’t recognize them for what they were. With them on, they could see more clearly, but still couldn’t make out what the small creatures were. Byron uncovered his light again to see if they could witness any change, but they didn’t react at all to the light change. At a rough guess, there seemed to be about thirty of them milling about. As the creatures didn’t seem bothered by them, they continued on their way through the crystals.

Half way through the room one of the creatures moved a bit more slowly out of their way and the party finally got a clear look at them. They were very small brains on four short, clawed legs. Calli reached out and gripped Nightingale’s arm tightly as it dawned on the the party what the creatures were. Intellect Devourers were nasty creatures that burrowed into skulls, ate the brains of the host, and then puppeted the bodies as their own. It seemed this was a nest of children. Nightingale mouthed the word, “William!” and Calli understood why he was so hard to read any emotions on. He had led them into a trap for his family. Palance indicated the way out was indeed in that direction, however, so they pressed on with speed.

The small creatures were reacting with caution, unsure if they were food or to be feared, but it wouldn’t be long before one got brave enough to attack. Sure enough, after a few minutes they start honing in on Nightingale, trailing along behind him with great interest. Having the highest intelligence, he must have seemed the tastiest potential meal. He watched them nervously, and occasionally one would vanish, and then reappear in surprise at itself, as if they were beginning to learn the extent of what their powers could do. They had almost made it across the room when one made a jerking motion towards him. Nightingale felt a sensation like a gentle punch to his brain, but he was easily able to resist. A moment later three of them coordinated and all made the same motion, and he felt a much stronger assault on his senses.

The group made it through the cavern and looked back to see the brains has ceased following, as if they were not yet brave enough to leave their nursery. Gale saw he’d had at least half of them following in a line, and gestured with his left hand. A long blast of lightning erupted from his hand, completely frying the brain closest, and damaging many of the others. The Devourers scattered, fleeing to hide behind crystals, and the party continued on their way.

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They again started hearing strange sounds ahead. Crackling sounds, heavy thuds, energetic scuffling. As they approached the crest of a small rise they saw various colors shining up from below, and when they were finally able to peek over into the cavern below they saw what at first glance looked like hell. It was clear a war was going on. In a space about 150 feet wide and 60 feet across unusual creatures tore into each other with violent intensity. Cloud of gas hovered in pockets across the battlefield, some red, yellow, green, and some familiar white mist. The opposing sides were bizarre. One side was strange insectile creatures with six arms. Two were sitting in strange metallic contraptions that occasionally spun around, and at a signal from their antennae fired something like lightning into the battle. Working with them were what look like humans wearing tattered yellow robes, but when they walked their knees bent backwards. Their faces were covered by masks, and they moved impossibly fast. Their foes were being lead by three humanoids with massive misshapen heads crowned with what might have been a ridge of bone. They had elongated middle fingers that ended in points, and tri-lobed mouths. The forces they commanded were clearly vampires. As they watched the battle anywhere the colored mists rolled various terrible effects would eat away at one side or the other. The yellow seemed to dissolve the vampires, the green caused the insectoids great pain.

Palance pointed at the commanders with the oblong heads and said, “Those are Caulborn. Nasty things.” He spoke in a normal voice, the din of the battle below making silence unnecessary. They looked across the canyon and on the opposite ridge they could see the base of a windowless tower that seemed to have fallen through from above. Palance redirected his finger to point at the metallic door, “And that’s the way out, I think. I’ve encountered chambers like that before. If we can get in, I can get us out.”

Byron and Nightingale began studying the battlefield for their options, and Calli began digging through their bag for useful items. Between Calli and Gale they worked out they’d be able to make each of them invisible, and Palance confirmed he didn’t think most of the creatures on the battlefield could see through it, though he admitted he’d never seen anything like the insectoids before. Byron spotted the fighting was thinnest on either far side, and their path from the ridge descended down towards the end where the insectoids were working their machines. Studying the bug-creatures, there was a clear signal before the machines fired and blasts or gas rolled from them into the fighting, so if they waited and timed it well, they should be able to dart across unopposed. Because they couldn’t be certain the creatures couldn’t see through invisibility, Calli offered to use major image to make it seem as though an additional cloud was drifting past to obscure their movement. She expressed concern that the creatures might notice it wasn’t one they’d actually cast, and Byron came up with the plan to simply make it look like one of their own was slightly longer than normal, and they could run through that harmless extension. In the midst of battle, a slightly longer cloud would be much harder to spot.

With a plan in place, Byron scooped up Hazel into his arms, and Nightingale used the last of his wand of invisibility to disappear the three men and the little lady, while Calli took the potion of invisibility she’d had. Calli picked out a cloud, made it seem longer with her major image, and then on Nightingale’s signal they began their careful but frantic crossing. Occasionally he would call for them to halt while combatants stormed passed, and then they’d continue their dash to the relative calm of the opposite side. The plan went off without a hitch.

Another path on the opposite side took them up to the doorway. It was unlike anything the Flowers had ever seen before. A large brass plate was inset, with three sections. In the left side was a puzzle of shapes in unfinished equations. To the right, a series of interlocking gears of various sizes with a single arrow pointing to the left at the top. In the center a grid of boxes with inset keys that had the ability to turn either clockwise or anticlockwise. Palance apologized, he’d never seen a lock like this one. Calli and Nightingale fell upon it, talking out their theories for each panel, and coming to the same conclusions. They ran their solution by the others, who agreed it seemed sound. Nightingale then patted the Duskwarden on the back, and stepped a few paces away, taking Calli with him. She tugged on Byron’s shirt as they passed and he, too, stepped back, with Hazel still in his arms. Palance nervously warned them he was turning the key, and then did as they’d indicated. There was a satisfying ‘click’, and the door opened.

————————————————————

There was a great crashing sound from across the cavern as their defeated white dragon smashed through the exit from the crystal cavern, a sea of tiny intellect devourers around his feet.

“We told William we killed a white dragon…,” Nightingale grumbled.

Unsure if William the White would be able to see through their invisibility and not wanting to find out, they all ran into the tower and shut the heavy metal door behind. It was just as well, the spells faded from them nearly as soon as they had. In the well-lit interior they could see each other clearly for the first time in well over an hour, and they were filthy from the off-road journey. Calli had her compulsive urge to begin prestidigitating away the grime and dried blood, but the novelty of the tower distracted her immediately.

Inside was a stark contrast to anywhere they’d been before. The circular room was sterile and metallic- though the metal had a reddish tint unlike any they’ve ever seen. Glass cylindrical pods full of cloudy liquid lined the chamber, and two central waist-high metallic consoles covered in various jeweled buttons and flashing lights created curved punctuation around a clear central tube with a single closed doorway that reached the ceiling and beyond farther than they could see. There was a grated metal staircase to the left of the tower door that led to the next level, floored in the same grated metal, that looked to have more of the strange cylinders full of opaque liquid. From dark shadows within the liquid it seemed as if each pod held a humanoid figure. The bright light of the room seemed to come from orbs set into the room’s walls and ceiling at regular intervals around the space.

Palance rushed over to one of the consoles, “Great! I think I know what I’m doing here.” He focused on it closely, while Calli and Nightingale found a thick bronze bar and fitted it into slots on the inside of the door to keep it from easily opening again. She hummed a bardic inspire competence, which seemed to jog Palance’s memory, and he swapped to the other console and depressed one of the jewels. It lit up as he pressed, and he smiled. “That should have done it, now.” He looked up at the center tube, “A platform should be slowly lowering to us now, that will lift us straight up to the city. We found multiple of these towers buried under Kaer Maga, and use them as escape stations when needed. We’re shown how to call the lift, but much of them still remain a mystery to us. As far as we can tell, it’s been here thousands of years.”

While they waited for the lift, the Flowers began investigating the strange room. Calli ran her fingers over jeweled console buttons, Nightingale chatted with Palance about defensive contingencies of the tower, and Byron took Hazel to get a closer look at the figures in the glass pods. He’d tried to set her down once the door was barred, but she made a small noise in her throat of distress, so he continued to carry her. The past hour had been a lot for the girl, and she felt safer in the strong arms of the barbarian she knew could defeat dragons. He shifted the girl to his other hip instead, thinking how she must be about the same age as Greta, as they peered in through the murky liquid. He strolled down the line of them, unable to make out any features within, when he came across a pod with no shadow at all. Nightingale had been looking up for the lowering platform, and he caught subtle movement out of the corner of his eye. From the floor above there was a steady dripping, and checking the pod nearest through the holes in the metal he saw one of those pods were also missing an inhabitant.

“Was there a figure in this one, before?” Byron asked.

“Was that one always dripping?” Nightingale added, pointing up at the suspicious leak. He walked cautiously around the console towards the stairs to get a better look.

Byron instantly went into protection mode, “Okay, back to back everyone.” He set Hazel down and began guiding her to the console to give her something solid at her back.

“Palance, there are missing bodies and dripping tubes! Is this normal?” Calli started looking around them to see what else they might be missing.

“That’s not good…” the Duskwarden reached for his crossbow, but not fast enough. The two missing creatures revealed themselves by lunging for he and the bard. They were tall and grotesque, with unnaturally long limbs and pale, veiny skin. Their legs had an extra backwards joint between knee and ankle, and feet that ended in two massive talons. Their hands likewise had two long, clawed fingers and an opposable thumb. Their heads were bald and lumpy, with slits for nostrils like a bat, red eyes, and a jaw that split into two halves ending with tiny three-fingered clawed hands. Bizarrely, lipstick was smeared around the unusually plump lips of their twisted mouths. Their long tongues snaked towards their targets, dripping saliva.

They bit into their victims with too many teeth, but strangely, after their initial reaction to the pain, they both smiled at the monsters. They were struck by the feeling that actually, these were the most beautiful creatures they’d ever seen. Thus pacified, the creatures then began raking across their chests with their long, curved claws. Calli and Palance stood placidly while their sternum and stomachs were torn open, blood gushed from the massive wounds, and the creatures lapped at it eagerly.

Nightingale’s blood went cold as he saw Calli’s skin lighten from the blood loss, the richness fading like terracotta bleached by the sun, and he jumped upon the console between them in one bound to bury his rapier into the soft space by the creature’s clavicle. His lightning didn’t seem to make it through the monster’s magical resistance, but his expert aim ensured the blade did a good deal of damage inside of it. “Take the token in my right jacket pocket!” he ordered her.

Calli clutched at her gut with one arm and unquestioningly reached up into his near pocket with the other. Her fingers felt the smooth wood of the thing, and she snatched it out as she stepped backwards. The cure serious spell stored within the token released into her, binding together the most urgent of her injuries. “It’s probably just confused if it’s been in those pods a long time, it might be scared of us!,” She spoke sweetly to the deformity in her fascinated state, “It’s okay, lovely, we don’t have to fight you, are you hungry? We have rations!”

Byron hesitated a fraction of a moment. He wanted to rush in to stand between Calli and further harm- but he saw her bodyguard had a handle on it, while Palance was alone. He followed Gale’s lead, not bothering to go around the console between Palance’s attacker and himself, but leaping onto it began carving down into it. Its spine was easy to spot, as over sized lumps bulging under the skin, and he drove one of his bone claws between them. His other he hooked up under the ribs, twisting his fist and yanking it out at a different angle to widen the wound.

Palance retreated back, coughing up blood as he beckoned for Hazel to stay well away from the danger. To her credit, she had resisted screaming since the first time the dragon appeared, but tears streamed down her dirty face, leaving clear paths in their wake.

The monsters turned and turned the full force of their attacks on those causing them pain, returning the favor with a chilling syncronicity. Monsters bit into the men’s legs in nearly timed coordination, wrapping their separated jaws around meaty flesh, and reached up to slice at the vulnerable veins of their inner thighs. Nightingale grunted from the pain- his damage reduction potion had worn off- for a moment felt the same wave of unnatural attraction as Calli and Palance as the drugged saliva seeped into his system, but he sneered and shook it off. Byron was less successful, and a slow smile spread across his face as he looked down into the pupil-less red eyes.

Nightingale flipped his sword with one hand, changing his grip, and then with both hands on the handle used his weight to drive it down directly into the elongated skull and out through the roof of it’s salivating mouth. It instantly went limp, dropping into the pool of blood with the sound of wet meat.

Calli’s mind cleared with its death, and her nose wrinkled in horror. She took another step back, drawing her holy light crossbow to fire twice at the creature trying to shave Byron’s thigh like a Doner kebab. Her aim was nearly good, but it twitched and shook as it ate, dodging at just the right moments.

Byron furrowed his brows and reluctantly broke eye contact with the monster to see who was so foolish as to attack such a beautiful creature, and when he saw Calli, something in his brain reset. He snarled and returned his attention to the creature. He lifted his free leg to kick the monster in the head, but the pain in his damaged leg was more than he expected, and he had to set it down again before he toppled over.

The humanoid tried to slash out at Byron’s good leg, aiming for the Achilles tendon to ensure he fell, but Byron’s momentary wobble worked in his favor, and the claws flew past and buried themselves into the console. The sharp edges of the metal it had pushed in held the hand in place, digging deep into its hand as it tried to yank it back out.

Nightingale hopped off his console and cast slow on the creature with an agitated flick of his left hand, stepping up behind it opposite Byron. It’s frantic attempts to free its hand became more sluggish as a multitude of small pitch-black hands slithered into existence around it, grabbing and pulling against anything it tried. Where they grasped at the monster they seemed to be made of black tar, turning progressively more like liquid smoke further back at the wrist, where wisps swirled and dripped off into nothing.

Calli began singing another inspire courage, knowing it would assist not only in the fight, but also in avoiding whatever mind-tricks the monster was doing to them. Byron took advantage of the creature being trapped to drop his good knee into the extended elbow, snapping it the wrong way. He then used a back elbow as he sprung back up, connecting hard with the side of it’s malformed head.

With a trilling scream it yanked it’s hand free, ignoring the wounds the torn metal console left in it, and speared the talons of its good hand deep into Byron’s gory thigh.

Behind it Nightingale had been lining up his rapier, and with stony-eyed calmness pierced the monster’s skull through from ear-to-ear. It looked like a demented olive on an over-sized cocktail stick. It collapsed, and Gale offered an arm to Byron to aid his descent from the console. Both men had a severely shredded leg, and they used each other to stagger towards the door of the tube.

Calli saw lights flashing where Byron had been, and checked for the same on the opposite console. Where the men had stood they’d stomped over multiple jewels, which were all still blinking.

A loud k-chunk sound startled everyone, and the door in the tube raised revealing a waiting platform. “Quick, everyone in!” Palance ordered, taking Hazel by the hand and rushing past. The Flowers filed in behind, and all around them the glass pods began hissing. As the tube door lowered back into place they watched as one by one, the pods unsealed. As soon as their door closed the platform began rising into the air, and as they watched the floor recede through the clear tube they saw more of those awful creatures climbing out of their chambers.

“We’re a walking disaster!” Byron lamented.

“Don’t worry,” Palance laughed, “This sort of thing happens all the time.”

They weren’t sure, until they noticed the other floors the lift was passing. Many held the pods, but then others were full of more creatures they’d never seen. Sometimes the various beasts were locked in battle with each other, sometimes tearing up the surroundings, sometimes watching calmly as they passed. Some of the floors defied description. They were all silent taking in the extent of the madness as they passed, breathing heavily from the latest of their fights. Hazel politely pulled her hand out of Palance’s and stepped back as the blood from the party pooled on the platform, nearly reaching her boots. It reminded them they should be using the time to heal, but as Calli began to pull back out a wand there was another k-chunk and they were all briefly jostled as the platform came to a stop.

A door opened, and they looked around at the new empty space. The ceiling was a single metal dome that became the walls about five feet out from the platform. Palance gestured for them to follow as he took them through the only thing of note, a large crack in the wall to one side. It exited into a normal stone basement where two human Duskwardens sat on basic wooden chairs, presumably standing guard.

“What the hell, Palance?,” one exclaimed as it took in the near-death adventurers.

“Have I got a tale to tell you guys! But first I need to finish my duties.” They stood aside to let the bedraggled Palance open the door to a staircase leading upwards.

Calli hesitated, “You should know, at the bottom of the lift a ton of pods have been opened with these horrible creatures in them, it isn’t safe. Many of the floors aren’t safe, it looked like!”

The guards sighed and their shoulders slumped. “It’s Toilday,” they shrugged.

————————————————————

Up the stone flight of stairs was a small landing with another door at the top. As Palance pulled out some keys, Byron leaned over Calli and gave her a crooked grin. “I took quite a bit of damage.”

While this was true, both she and Nightingale looked far worse. She chuckled and raised an eyebrow, “I can patch you up.”

His next words were cut short as they were then interrupted by the door opening onto a giant troll filling the frame. Everyone began reaching for weapons, but it turned around and addressed someone out of sight, “See, I told you we’d find your friends. That’ll be ten gold.” It took the gold pieces from a green hand, “Thank you,” and trundled away.

Into its place stepped Taylan - looking a little sick, Travis, Jack, and Peridot. They all looked completely unharmed. The Freeman family cried out in joy as Hazel ran forward and bounded into the arms of her father. Taylan, with bewilderment, explained, “We were told to look for one of the Troll Augurs to tell us where to go. Turns out they read the future by reading entrails… their own.”

“Can I have your dusklight charms, please?” Palance collected the glowing amulets he’d given them at the start of the trip, and then held out another. It was chunkier than the streamlined ones they had been wearing, with more intricate carvings. “And here. This is my personal sigil. You saved my life more than once, although admittedly you endangered it in the first place, but never the less, I am grateful. This will call me from anywhere in the world. If you call, I’ll send aid if I’m able.” Calli slid it into the party bag, and they thanked him in turn. He continued, “That was the most eventful trip I’ve taken in a while! Good luck to you all.”

“We’re not the ones going back down there,” Byron said, “Best of luck to you.”

Palance laughed, locked the door behind him, and limped off around the building to find the Duskwarden’s healers. Calli waited till Jack was certain Hazel was unharmed, then asked for their Icon back. Hazel, who was talking a mile a minute about her adventure, happily handed it over as she was saying, “-and daddy, our cart exploded!”

The Flowers had the decency to look contrite, and Nightingale defended himself, “Sorry about that, there was a dragon.”

“It’s fine. Listen you saved my daughter. If you’re ever around and I have wares again, somehow, I’ll give you a discount.” Jack looked concerned at the loss of his livelihood, but genuinely relieved to have his little girl back.

Byron and Nightingale gave him their best wishes, and Calli gave him a small pouch of coins. Jack tried to refuse, but she insisted, “I can’t leave a family here with nothing, especially if it was because of us.” He nodded, took the bag, and with Hazel and Peridot by his side, walked out into the crowds of Kaer Maga.

The Flowers of Korvosa, reunited once more, wondered what else this city would have in store for them if just arriving was so hazardous.