Pavander barreled off down the southern
passage, the rest of the party not far behind. The badger was double
his normal size due to a spell Melissah had cast, and was doing a
fine job of clearing the path. He burst into a room full of boiling
cauldrons and assorted muck, all overseen by three enormous
green-skinned hags. Melissah threw a snowball at the first hag,
while Pavander leaped on her, shaking in badger rage and leaving huge
gashes in her rubbery green flesh. The hags surrounded the badger,
clawing him back, but Foss leaped in and the melee was soon far less
one-sided. Two of the hags dropped and the third shrieked and
retreated.
“Mercy!” she howled. “Mercy, I
beg of you!”
Jori stepped around the corner and
dropped a flame strike on the hag, scorching her badly.
“You have two choices,” Foss said,
raising an axe. “Spill your guts, or I can spill them for you.
Where is Lamatar?”
“In the shrine!” she shrieked,
pointing off to the northwest. “Barl gave him to us when he was
done with him, to reward us for bringing the rains, but we thought he
was spying on us, so he guards the Mother's place!”
“Does that mean he's dead?” Iozua
asked.
The hag grinned wickedly. “Not any
more.”
Melissah jumped as a shadowy human form
shambled up behind her, its hands reaching. It was covered in ice
and hideous in undeath.
“Gods,” Iozua said. Nevis cast a
hasting spell and the fight was on again, Foss keeping his promise to
the remaining hag and Pavander trying to keep the corpse of Lamatar
from destroying his druid. Iozua cast grease on the stairs and the
wight and badger skidded ungracefully across the floor, winding up at
the bottom with Pavander more or less on top and Lamatar in half.
“Poor guy, that sucks,” Melissah
remarked, and then kicked Pavander savagely as the badger attempted
to roll in the ick.
“Can we salvage the body?” Iozua
asked. “Or is this going to be a closed-casket situation?”
“The ghost nymph said she only needed
a piece of it,” Nevis said.
“Oh, right, she wanted to reincarnate
him?”
Melissah nodded. “Now that his
spirit isn't bound to this unholy monstrosity, it should be able to
join with a new body. My preference would be to carry the poor man
out of here and give him a decent burial, taking only a relic back to
the nymph.”
“First everything else in this place
dies,” Foss said.
The place pointed to by the hag
contained an altar and shrine carved with the image of a monstrous
pregnant woman with the head of a three-eyed jackal, Lamashtu, Mother
of Monsters. The room was otherwise empty, so the group headed
north, where the cavern opened into a massive chamber, open to the
sky, that sloped upward between two wide ledges. Statues with
angular faces stood above, and the ramp stepped up to the foot of an
immense stone throne, where a stone giant was seated. Another giant
stood beside him, glaring down at the adventurers.
“So, this does all end in tiers,”
Iozua said, deadpan.
“Lidiar con estos ácaros. Ya me han
causado suficientes problemas,” the seated giant grated.
“No hablo Gigante,” Iozua snapped
back.
“Que lastima! Pendejos Gigantes!”
Nevis yelled.
“He said 'deal with these mites,
they've caused enough problems for me',” Jori translated. The
second giant lumbered forward, roaring. Behind Foss, Melissah
finished casting a spell and the cavern shook as lightning struck the
attacking giant. The other one stood from the throne and hurled a
fireball, scattering the adventurers as they attempted to take cover.
Iozua beat at his smoking clothes and made an arcane gesture, a wall
of fire blocking the giant wizard's view.
Nevis began to sing, somewhat oddly.
“Magnificooooo, no no no no no no no!” Foss charged and Jori cast
a ray of searing light at the same moment, dropping the first giant,
leaving only the wizard, who stepped through the wall of fire and
cast another spell. Foss winced, but managed to shake off the
effect. He was not so fortunate as the giant's earthbreaker hammer
struck him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground.
“Crap,” Jori said, and raced
forward with a healing spell in her hands, but the giant struck
again, crashing through the arm Foss raised to defend himself and
leaving the fighter unconscious in a pool of blood. The backswing
cracked against Pavander, who yelped but continued to claw and bite
in best badger style. Iozua's force missile struck hard and the
giant staggered, coming into range of Jori's knife. She dropped the
healing spell, and with a look of concentration, she sank the blade
into a stony eye and wrenched. A torrent of dark blood followed and
the monster collapsed at last.
“Ohthankthegods,” Iozua breathed,
rushing up the steps to see if Foss was still alive. He was, barely,
and Jori frantically healed the damage, restoring him to
consciousness.
“Hey, look, there's loot!” Nevis
said, pointing to the throne. Indeed, there was, but even more
valuable than trinkets was a rolled mammoth hide with a message
written on it.
“Barl--
“Latest contact with Teraktinus
indicates he has narrowed the search—he believes a human town
called Sandpoint could hide what my lord seeks. Teraktinus will lead
several of the people, as well as the dragon, on a raid into the town
soon. When they return, they may be pursued, and I may need your
ogre slaves to aid in Teraktinus' retreat to Jorgenfist. Be ready to
return at my command!
“--M”
“--M”
“What the hell did Sandpoint ever do
to anyone?” Iozua grumbled, reading the message.
“And what the hells could be so
important that we don't even know about it?” Jori asked.
“'M' could be for 'Mokmurian',”
Nevis suggested. “That's who Lucrecia said she was working for.”
Iozua nodded. Melissa shook her head.
“How big of a dragon are we talking, here?”
“I can't imagine M would bother to
include it in this message if it was a tiny one,” Nevis said. She
seemed excited at the prospect. Iozua grimaced.
“Probably not,” the wizard grated.
“We should get back to Sandpoint
sooner rather than later,” Jori said.
“We still have those trolls at
Storval Deep to deal with,” Melissah reminded her.
Iozua shook his head. “I know, but
my parents are at Sandpoint.”
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