DAY 207 (4 Marpenoth)(October) continued ...
Rather dismayed Fenrir suggested they try the OJB. As they travelled the secret
routes that Werner knew they questioned her about Darknessdeep and she told them
a little of its social structure;
'De Rosan is the lord, he has courtiers and retainers, servants and slaves. The
other lords of Darknessdeep are as evil and corrupt as him. Then there are the
powerful wizards and clerics that have come to an agreement with him. Only the
evil prosper though. You then have the guards and watchmen, who are all undead
now.
And at the bottom of the heap you have the citizens. Somehow we get by, scraping
a living from the ruins. A very small minority of the citizens plot against
De Rosan and are known as the resistance. I am a member. Oh, wait!'
She had spotted something. Arcing across the sky was what looked like a giant
fireball. As it grew closer they could see it was a pit fiend, all aflame,
flying high above.
It was 'Skinner' she said, a pit fiend that liked to hunt the people of Darknessdeep
for sport. His pack would be nearby.
She sent them back and then went forward to lure the hunting pack away.
'Come get me, you swine! Aieee!!'
Fenrir and Corum ran south, but were attacked by a horde of lemures, poorly formed
devil-things, gibbering and foul. Fenrir blasted away, sending blood and limbs
flying while Corum held them back as best he could with his sword.
When they had managed to disengage from the pack and run, they left over twenty
of them dead. Corum was badly scratched up and they were both covered in blood
and gore.
They headed in what direction felt like south west. Fenrir was invisible but
someone spotted Corum and called him over to his shelter.
'It is not safe to wander the streets like that alone.' he cautioned and gave
his name as Zander.
When asked where they were from the said 'Skullport' and in return asked if he
could take them to the OJB.
He knew where the Marketplace was and was persuaded to take them there. Fenrir
asked more questions about Darknessdeep and was told that some of the sea was
inside the barrier, although it was now a sea of blood.
Fenrir asked him about the 'Legend of Fenrir and Corum' and was told that Zander
considered it just a myth, something that people with no hope clung to - that
some day they would return to destroy De Rosan and change the city back to
Waterdeep.
Zander was too young to remember Waterdeep and had began to think that it had
never existed.
The OJB was a ruin, but they spent some time digging about and found the entrance
to the crypts. Zander lit a small lantern and they went down into it.
The were greeted by an old man's voice nervously telling them to go away, but it
turned out to be Cavu, who, as he explained, had been hiding down here for most
of the last fifty years.
He'd been surviving on snails and spiders, but the genies had been a 'great comfort'
he told them lecherously.
Fenrir and Corum then went to speak to the genies, who were not inside their
lamps and were just hanging about. It wasn't too hard for the genies to persuade
them to have some fun, so Fenrir paired off with Meshnosha and Corum with Enlessa!
When they were done, the genies said 'Now you must leave!'
The rest of that day the spent taking turns in opening up one of the sealed rooms
with a crowbar.
Zander left them at this point to go and search for supplies for his 'people.'
DAY 208 (5 Marpenoth)(October)
That night, among a lot of long ramblings Cavu said
'There is a way out. I don't know what it is, but it is in the City of the
Dead.'
The next morning, after some sleep and a rat-in-a-bun ration Fenrir went to talk
to the genies again and asked
'Can you leave this plane?'
They said they didn't want to talk about it. He then cast Detect Magic, but found
that everything around him was showing up as magical.
He then went into the opened up room and tried to summon Bnurgstickslackskin but
nothing happened. He began to think that the barrier was blocking all planar
travel.
They took a rough bearing and tried to head northward to find Kreenan again.
As they walked along a hoarse voice cried,
'Citizens! Remain where you are. This is the watch!'
They ran for it though and lightning bolts were shot at them.
Skeletal figures were seen silhouetted against the ruins every time they shot
from the long staffs they carried.
They tried to hide, but were spotted and attacked again. Corum then told Fenrir
to fly away invisibly and he would try to get away by himself.
Fenrir flew straight up and then flew away as the landscape was lit up by more
lightning. He also spotted a double squad of watchmen taking a prisoner away
although it was not Corum.
He followed them and they went towards the mountain, then up a hill to
a tall black building that stood alone on the hillside. The doors opened and
the prisoner was lead inside. The doors boomed shut behind them.
Fenrir tried to get back to Kreenan once more but became lost. As he flew about
he noted that the skies were far from empty. Dark flapping things went about
on errands of their own and larger fiery things flew further up. He stuck as
low to the ground as he dared.
It took him all of the rest of the day to make his way back to the OJB where
he fell asleep once more in Cavu's chamber.
DAY 209 (6 Marpenoth)(October)
Fenrir awoke and ate some more of his diminishing rations. It wasn't until
the evening that Corum appeared, badly injured. Cavu used his bardic magic
to heal him a little.
After talking together they decided that it was best for Fenrir to do the
scouting by himself since Corum was a sitting duck out on the streets, so they
arranged a guiding light to be set up close to the OJB and Fenrir went out
by himself.
He spend a long time searching about, but without success.
When he started to feel sleepy he found a bolt hole and hit in it.
DAY 210 (7 Marpenoth)(October)
Fenrir awoke and ate his second to last ration. He then spent many hours
looking for Kreenan. He found his way to the ruins of the TSV and re-traced
his way again and again until he eventually found a door that looked familiar.
He was in luck and down some steps into a cellar he found the entrance to
Kreenan's hideout.
He talked to the cleric for a while. Kreenan told him he had enough materials
for one resurrection only and was not going to use it on Werner until he was
sure it was not needed elsewhere.
He also told Fenrir his best method of getting around the city was with a guide.
Someone who was used to always travelling in near total darkness or had some
kind of night vision.
Kreenan then gave him some more rations and introduced him to a young man
called Anger. Before he left he asked if someone could be sent down to the
OJB to bring Corum up.
Outside once more, Fenrir asked Anger to take him to where Maaril now lived.
Anger nodded silently then led the young warlock through secret tunnels
and hidden paths to a large and lopsided looking house.
Some of the windows were lit, so Fenrir left Anger hidden nearby and went
for an invisible fly around.
In one window he saw a young man that bore a passing resemblance to Maaril.
Perhaps his son, but the man closed the shutters when Fenrir tapped on the
window.
Another window has broken glass so he snuck into the room. It was large
with a pentagram and a corpse in its middle. It was a ground floor room
of flagstones. Once more Fenrir cast Detect Magic and once more everything
about him showed up as magical. He concentrated and detected four auras coming
off everything.
He began to explore the twisted and dark dusty corridors of Maaril's Nightmare
Mansion.
In the next room he found a dead old lady lying in a bed while ivy grew in big
bushy clumps in every corner.
Down some stairs to another level he found a sitting room and found a magical
dagger on the mantelpiece. Next to a carved wooden face there was a button.
He pressed it and some fire sprites leapt out of the fire.
Fenrir flew over to the corner of the room and hit. The fire sprites then crept
back into the fireplace.
A trapdoor had also opened, but he decided not to see what was down there. The
room next to the sitting room was a study and as he looked down at a bit of
paper on the desk letters magically appeared which read:
'Head first and naked.'
He searched the shelves in here and found a silver pentagram inside a false book
that had writing on it that told the wearer of this device would have 'power over
devil worshippers.'
Searching the room further he found a secret set of steps that lead to a dungeon
were four people were being held. He was invisible though and they did not see
him so he went back up again leaving them in captivity.
He retraced his steps to a set of exterior doors that were at the end of the corridor
that the sitting room door lead to. Opening them though he saw a goat-headed headed devil
so he quickly shut it again!
The door across from the sitting room lead to a kitchen where he found some keys.
A pantry held some sort of ghoulish being, but he left it unmolested.
Another set of steps lead down into what seemed like a changing room and just
as he was wondering what to do a group of eight men came in and silently changed
into white robes and donned goat-headed masks.
The left the room and Fenrir followed them into a large cave. A woman was dragged
in and placed on the alter in the middle of the cave. The leader of the robed men
then plunged a dagger into her heart.
The leader looked up and then removed his mask. It was Maaril! But he also saw
Fenrir and shouted,
'I see you!'
Fenrir held up the pentagram he had found which seemed to stop them from coming
any closer to him.
He tried to talk to Maaril, but the man had raving red eyes and was evidently crazier
than a crate of stirges. Fenrir retraced his steps as quickly as he could and left
the mansion.
Once he had found Anger, they headed back to Kreenan's house where he got some
rest.
DAY 211 (8 Marpenoth)(October)
Fenrir awoke and was happy to find that Corum had made it back to the hideout
that morning. He was still not in great shape exactly, but a bit more healthy
than last time he'd seen him.
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