The journey was not an easy one, but it was certainly easier with Natha’s guidance.
I am surprised at my reaction to her. Even knowing what she is, I am struck by her alien beauty. It is a most curious state, but one I will have to put aside. She serves as a mercenary, and that may mean that at some point we will run into one another at cross purposes again. Still and all, she is a contact I will have to remember in the future.
We trekked a good several hours before the “landscape” changed, the tunnels through which we journeyed beginning to show evidence of white roots, shot through with frost. The air in the caverns adopted a chill stillness I would normally associate with a winter’s night. Arn explained that we were passing through the ancient root network of the Ivory Tree of Winter, once a mighty titan in the days before the war between the gods and the primordials. The tree had long since been felled, but its roots still maintained a vestige of its original potency.
Before too long, we came forth into a broad cavern of obviously artificial make, possessing a pair of columns flanking our archway – each carved with a variety of languages’ warnings to turn back – and a great statue of a fomorian holding aloft a stone platform almost twenty feet off the ground. In the back of the room two statues of chained Eladrin stood peacefully, amidst a smattering of the white roots we’d come to expect. A gentle snow was actually falling in this room, though I cannot for the life of me figure out from where. Atop the stone platform was a sphinx – a winged leonine form, perfectly still in the cold. Two lanterns at an exit far in the gloom shed pale red light on what looked like a great widening of the cavern way.
Arn spoke up, “I know that beast, it is a sphinx – some say angels are punished by being imprisoned in such forms and bound to servitude.”
Dei looked up to it skeptically. “I’ll be finding out who imprisoned this one, then. Justice demands it.”
Natha whispered, “I will not help you fight this, but I was not given the password by the Fomorian who aids us.” She slunk back into the shadows of our entryway.
Dei stepped forth and took a closer look, and as he approached, the sphinx lurched into motion – sitting up rapidly, expelling a steam blast of breath. “Go no further. In passing this place, you may lessen your pain by answering my questions.” Dei, looking a bit startled at this sudden rush of movement, stumbled back among us.
“Your first question.”
“Rivers without water,Forests without trees,Mountains without stonesTowns without homes.”
Its voice bellowed out to us loudly, each syllable pronounced with the precision of someone speaking common to a deaf child.
Dei looked back at us. I looked to Sered, and we locked eyes – and both said “Map” simultaneously. Sered looked to the sphinx and called “It is a map of which you speak.”
“Is that your answer?”
“It is.”
The sphinx nodded curtly, and one of the two lanterns turned green.
“I cannot be seen, cannot be felt,Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.It lies behind stars and under hills,And empty holes it fills.It comes first and follows after,Ends life, kills laughter.The more of me, the less you see.Name me.”
Before the sphinx even said “Ends life” I had blurted out “Darkness.” The others looked at me, then one by one nodded. The sphinx looked down impassively. “Is that your answer?”
“It is.”
Again it nodded, and the second lantern turned green.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief, it seemed for a change we might not be forced to draw steel. Dei, seeming to wish to question the beast about its origins, walked forward while we all consulted amongst ourselves the direction we should go.
Apparently, he crossed a line not meant to be crossed.
The sphinx reared up, and let out a roar that cascaded over almost all of us, and I have to say frightened the living daylights out of me. My knees shook, and my hands would not stop spasming. Even as the palpable wave of fear washed over most of us, we noticed the platform on which the beast sat was not, in fact, supported by the Fomorian statue as we had first thought. Instead there was just a bare amount of clearance between the hands of the statue, and the bottom surface of the platform, because the statue itself animated and charged just as the sphinx leaped down from the platform to maul Dei.
Much like a sack of potatoes, Dei dropped fast and with a heavy thud to the floor of the room. I noticed the two statues of Eladrin had also animated in the back and were charging forward.
I assumed they were not choosing to help us.
Bingo somehow managed to leap to the top of the leftmost column, and let out two arrows at the great statue bearing down on us as Sered called target on it. The statue lit up with short bursts of violet arcane fire as we all heaved into it. I managed a clean shot, though my hands were still shaking with fear of the sphinx, and with it managed to give it pause for a moment – long enough to be caught with the sphinx and one of the statues, in a blast effect Arn threw down.
It seemed almost unreal that the gigantic statue should suffer so quickly, but before long it was showing massive fractures all up and down its legs, and soon fell apart under our concerted assault. Dei played the role of whipping-boy through most of the fight – somehow he seemed to have attracted most of the enemy’s attention, so as he was knocked about like a rag-doll the rest of us were hard-pressed to keep him alive. I spent the better part of my healing magic to keep his brains where they belonged as the sphinx not only mauled him, but slammed his head repeatedly on the hard and frozen floor. One of the Eladrin statues, this one exuding drips of lightning, also hammered him several times, nearly killing him outright.
After the enormous statue fell to rubble, I noticed the cold in the room take a sharper note, a more invasive sense to it – the snow fell harder, and I could almost feel the heat leaching from me. I have always enjoyed the cold, but this became almost an animal unto itself, biting at exposed skin and sending shivers through me. Even though I shook off the fear of the sphinx – an effect I now realized was some enchantment caused by its voice – my hands still shook with the chill. It almost seemed to whisper to me, to beckon me to it, like a welcoming phantom. I tried as best I could to keep my head clear, and after missing with one of my more powerful arcanist arrow tricks I settled back to handle what I could of the attrition that would soon be piling up on us.
At that moment, Rhogar leaped forward and with a howl smote his greatsword into the flank of the sphinx. The cut bit hard, for the thing shrieked with bloody vengeance and leaped into the air, flying towards the opened-out area of the room, towards the darkness.
It took Dei’s body with it, clutching him in its jaws like some overgrown child’s toy. His body flopped limply – I was afraid lifelessly – in the thing’s jaws. Before I even could connect the dots what was precisely going on, the best fled into the darkness, closely pursued by Arn. Arn stood at what was now obviously a ledge over a great chasm, holding out a sunrod and throwing it down into the deep. Almost immediately, he screamed “I see it!” and leaped over the edge.
Shaking my head I proceeded to plan our last efforts against the two Eladrin statues, neither of which had been the focus of our efforts. Even as I was drawing a bead on one of them and nodding with Sered to establish a focus target, both of the statues re-stiffened and froze in place, snow collecting on them almost immediately. The chill in the air lessened a bit, became somehow less oppressive – but still hovering n the air, like a raptor waiting to dive.
Heading over to where Arn disappeared, we saw him about fifty feet down, shoving the bloody corpse of the sphinx off the ledge they were settled on, to plummet with ominous thwacking sounds, into the depths. Laying on the ledge with him was Dei’s unconscious form, and I rattled off a quick healing charm while I had a free moment.
Interestingly, a third person was there. Some kind of humanish looking fellow, he helped lift Dei up – and then somehow floated the invoker’s motionless form up to our level, where we then retrieved him. The two followed shortly after, Arn clutching a harness and an expensive-looking silver neck-piece which he’d apparently removed from the body of the sphinx.
I stood on the ledge, looking out into the darkness, to see glimmers of light off indistinct shapes. There was some kind of edifice built into the far wall of the chasm, some kind of city.
As the two reached the ledge, we helped them over. The newcomer stepped forward, hands raised. “I’m Zenith – pleased to meet you.”
Arn hooked a thumb at him. “Guy came crawling up from below just after I gave the cat a parting shot. Said he’d seen the lights up here, heard the fight, and was coming to check things out.”
He seemed genuine enough, and his hands hadn’t morphed into serpents or anything, so I offered my own hand in greeting. “Azrael. We are called Fellbane, I’ll leave it to them to introduce themselves. What were you doing down there?”
“Came to the Shallows back in the real with several friends, we got separated some weeks back, and I’ve been stumbling around looking for a way out. Sure am glad to see huma…I mean, familiar faces for a change. This isn’t the World, is it?” He looked around, holding his hand out to catch snow on it and look more closely at the flakes, as if to check whether they existed.
“No, this is Faydark, close to Moss Kag, if that helps at all.”
“Not really, no.”
“Well, you’re a long way from home. That’s the easiest way to put it.”
“I was getting that impression, yeah. Your friend there okay?”
“Dei? He took quite a pounding just now. I am a bit shocked he’s not dead, but I think he’ll be fine. We’re used to doing field dressings here.”
“Good. I saw that thing wing out of the hole in the wall as I was making my way up, thought I was a deadster, till I realized it was carrying a body – figured there had to be more where that one came from, and then that fellow came plummeting down, feet right between the wings. Heard the spine snap even down where I was.”
I nodded over to Arn. “Nice jump. Glad you landed on the ledge.”
Arn nodded, his knees were still shaking from the adrenaline kick. Interesting to see Eladrin suffer some of the same issues we normals get after a fight. “Thanks, me too.”
I offered, “So, you need directions home? I can’t really say it’s an easy journey from here, to be honest.”
Zenith considered a moment. “If it’s all the same to you, if you are heading back soon, I’d rather think it’d be smarter to travel in numbers. Would you mind my joining you?”
I looked over at Sered, Althea, and the rest. Arn shrugged noncommittally, Sered waved his hand with a nod, Rhogar just glared like he was a piece of meat on a stick. Or maybe that was naked lust. I have a really hard time reading dragonborn faces. Bingo seemed pensive, then nodded.
“Looks like the answer is yeah, but I have to tell you – we’ve only started our journey here. We’ve got a bit of a trip ahead of us before we go back, and it’s not a safe one. We’ve lost two of our companions already since we set out, and things are likely to grow…harder. Sure you want to jump in this pot with us?”
He considered for a few moments, then grimly set his jaw. “Well, I’m not likely to make it home alive going on my own, seems more likely I’ll survive with numbers by my…” His voice trailed off. He’d seen Natha gazing at him from the far wall. His voice became a croak. I guess drymouth can come to just about anyone. He choked out the question, “Where are you going?”
“Ihnbharan. That is Natha, she is our escort. I would recommend you don’t piss her off for starters, and you probably shouldn’t look at her too often for finishers.”
“Umm, yeah.” He was backing up unconsciously, feet slowly shuffling away from the medusa as she chuckled against the wall, her laughter sounding like autumn leaves whisking along stone steps.
I grabbed his harness before he could shuffle himself over the edge and die. “Look, if you can handle looking at my face and not flinch, being near her for a few more hours probably won’t kill you. Unless you look at her the wrong way.” I grinned around this. “So. You’re welcome to accompany us. Couple of rules – everyone pulls here. You can start by helping Dei – the guy you rescued – shoulder his pack until he gets his feet back under him. Second – if we get in a fight, and you run, keep running. We won’t want you back unless we call a retreat. Third, fill us in as we walk on what you can do. I need to know your capabilities so I can shuffle you properly if we get in a fight. Think you can handle that?”
He nodded, eyes still on Natha.
“Good. Go help Dei, and don’t fall off the cliff here.” He seemed to notice where he was standing, and moved to help the injured invoker.
Natha kept laughing as she picked up her bow from against the wall next to her and proceeded to lead us further.
