[And now back into the Underdark with Fenrir and Reinward, who have entered the Lair of Queen Arachnia and are gathering three keys that will enable them to enter her castle. They are now in the final key holder's home - the Castle of Lord Amber.]
DAY 508(23rd Flamerule)(july) cont ...
And so they left the hall where they had just killed the huge humanoid being and went back to the courtyard.
They saw the small figure at the stable entrance again so Fenrir tried some subterfuge, calling out, 'You there, we are very important people here to see your Lord! We have travelled far with important news and must see him at once!'
The stable boy, or whoever it was, fled into the stables and was not seen again. They explored the stables but could not find the boy so they crossed the courtyard and had another look at the hall. There was a door at the north end, but it seemed to radiate dread and Reinward was so terrified he could not go near it to check it for traps.
So finally they went back to the main door in the courtyard and entered the 'murder hole' area beyond it. A squad of six skeletal fighters passed them, but as the men were both invisible to them they went past without seeing them.
In the castle proper they came to a room with some skeletal archers in it, covering the approach to another gate. They destroyed them and moved on. A store room was found that contained, among other things, some very old dark elf wine. Reinward thought it might be valuable so he took ten jars of the stuff and put them in his Bag of Holding.
In the next corridor they encountered eight skeletal guards, but they were quickly blasted to bits by Fenrir's Eldritch Cone. In this corridor was the entrance to a shire known as 'The Chapel of the White Queen'. If felt strangely out of place in such an evil castle, and yet here it was, a shrine to a good dark elf goddess. It was still tended by a Iola the Priestess, an ancient dark elf lady who had been tending the shrine for hundreds of years.
She beckoned them in and aided them as best she could. She hoped they would be successful in slaying Lord Amber, and gave them a blessing, of which she said,
'Call on the White Queen when you are beset by undead on all sides and she will destroy them all!'
'Coo, thanks!' said Fenrir.
They rested a while and continued on their way, following the corridor west.
They came to a room that had a door in each wall, entering from the east. They saw a heap of rags in one corner that turned out to be the jester of Lord Amber, a withered old dark elf man named Mr Hanky.
He spoke in riddles, but eventually Fenrir figured out that two of the doors were trapped and only opened onto blank stone. The north door was the only one that led anywhere so they followed the hallway beyond it to a set of spiral stairs that were guarded by an ancient dark elf knight.
Tough as it was, it was easy for Fenrir to blast aside with his powerful magic. Halfway up the stairs was a door that lead to a balcony overlooking a very large feasting hall that appeared to contain a couple of hundred undead knights, who all sat at their tables silently.
The gently closed the door and continued upwards. A corridor led to their final destination, the throne room of Lord Amber. As they entered he turned to face them, a tall and powerful lich of an ancient dark elf cleric. He wore tarnished silver armour and wielded a long black metal flanged mace.
Perhaps now they had met a foe that might actually put up a fight!
No comments:
Post a Comment