Greyhawk- Descent to the god trap Part 3
As the four of us stood there laughing at each other and arguing about whether there was or was not indeed a shelf in the room and, if there wasn’t, what exactly had Bella tied that rope to, I heard something that stopped my breath. Cast was screaming. Victor looked at me and asked “What on Eberon could Cast be screaming about?” I stared at him, eyes wide, no color in my face and replied: “Cast never screams.”
I had never understood the meaning of “it made my blood run cold” until that moment. I raced back to the barrier and saw Cast yelling in terror at the fact that Kiris’ body seemed to be turning to goo. I could clearly see the bones in her legs as the flesh, blood, and tissue that should be there turned to clear, jelly-like goo. I stopped at the edge of the barrier and yelled to Cast. Bella, who had been right on my heels, charged past me and took up a position to cover Cast and Kiris. They were the only things we could see. Now for the record, I am not calling Bella stupid when I say this, but as most things we have encountered here seem to have the ability to turn invisible, there was no way I was going on the other side of that barrier. This was seconded by both Victor and Raven as they raced around the corner and stopped just short of where I stood. Cast quickly came to his senses and, as gently as he could, picked up the Kiris and ran behind the barrier to one of the nearby cells. That’s when we all noticed she was as stiff as a board, paralyzed by something. Worse still, we also saw for the first time that the wooden parts of Cast were suffering the same fate.
Bella scanned the area on the other side of the barrier when she felt something touch her shoulder. For a moment she said it felt as if her body was turning to stone, but she managed to shake it off. On her left shoulder a green, slimy goo had appeared out of seemingly thin air. I realized that my decision to stay on this side of the barrier was a good one when Victor went pale, pointed and screamed “Behind you, a lich.” Bella spun around and asked where, confirming again that for some reason everyone/thing in Greyhawk likes to turn invisible. At least in Eberon most of the people/things trying to kill you give you a sporting chance.
Now I know nothing of liches other than they are undead, but I asked was this something they did often as I pointed to Kiris and Cast. Victor shrugged his shoulders and said he didn’t think so. Cast rummaged through his bag desperately trying to find something that would heal Kiris as more of her body began to disappear. I ran my hands through my hair as I stared at my two friends. Victor shouted directions to Bella as she tried to hit the invisible lich. Eventually she decided the safest place was behind the barrier. She took position right at the entrance while the rest of us ducked behind corners to stay out of its sight. I felt so helpless. I closed my eyes and thought what can I do, what good am I to my friends, when it hit me. I remembered a story my uncle had once told me. There were these strange creatures called Aboliths that came from beyond the stars. They built truly beautiful cities under the sea, but there was a problem. It seemed that their blood was toxic to humans or anything organic for that matter. It would cause paralysis, liquefaction of organic matter, and eventually death. The only cures were a Heal, Remove Disease, or Remove Curse spell, to stop the liquefaction process, and then a spell to remove the paralysis. I relayed this to the group as fast as I could and looked at Victor. He shook his head, it sounded like it could be, but that would mean he had to have some Abolith’s blood. Suddenly we heard a voice inside our heads telling us to sleep. Most of us shook it off, but Bella yawned and started to curl up into a ball on the floor. Victor shouted at her and fired in the direction of something on the other side of the barrier.
I fell to my knees and pulled out my haversack, I knew we had taken a Heal scroll off the paladin we had fought. I still had no idea what we were dealing with, having never seen a lich before, but it appears that I was the only one in the dark.
Raven seemed to have a brilliant idea, because he leapt out from behind the corner he had taken refuge, kicked Bella to wake her up, and ran past us. He looked at Victor, said “The shelf that isn’t there,” and headed around the corner. I looked up at Victor puzzled. He quickly explained that a lich keeps its soul hidden in a phylactery, which can be destroyed and will allow us to kill a lich for good. Interesting fact that I found out later: if you “kill” a lich and do not destroy his phylactery, he will rise several days later, hunt you down, and kill you. This will go on until you destroy his phylactery or die. Why I had no idea whatsoever about these sorts of things? Was there some class on liches that I did not attend at some point in my schooling? Was I the only one who knew nothing about these things?
Victor suggested getting cover further back in the room and again to aim where he aimed. He also said something about throwing magic at the lich as Bella swung wildly at nothing. I too was struck with, what I thought at the time was a brilliant idea. I remembered the other scrolls we had in the pack. I threw a scroll of Summon Monster at Cast and pulled out one of the wands as I took position across from Victor, I knew I could most likely make the wand work and Cast was an expert at casting off scrolls. Of course it would have helped had he mentioned to me earlier that he couldn’t cast certain spells, like summoning a monster to see/attack something invisible because he did have the same alignment as the monster that could see invisible things. And, of course, neither could Victor. Why do I bother to try to come up with something other than “hit the monster until it stops?” I then offered Victor the wand, which he said was a great idea, but why didn’t I just use the mace? I looked totally confused, and Victor told me that liches were undead. Hmm…that information would have been handy at the beginning of the encounter. I swore then and there that if we got out of this, I was going to ask Kiris to tell me everything that she knew about liches. I rolled my eyes, dropped the wand, and pulled out my mace. All the time I was wondering why we were so afraid of something that most likely couldn’t pass through the barrier. As I vocalized this to Victor, he nodded in agreement and shot another blast at the invisible lich. I saw the thing outlined for a moment in a green splash of acid and then it was gone again. This time it was Victor’s turn to grow pale.
He shouted that the lich could shadow walk. Shadow walk? Meaning it could walk through shadows? Sure why not…an invisible, abolith blood dripping, undead thing that walks through shadows to avoid evil barriers. This day just kept getting better, I think I preferred going down the gullet of a giant worm. Victor scanned the room, shouted, and pointed to the corner behind us. I still could not see anything, but a ray of light came from that corner and connected with Victor. He screamed and seemed to lash out against something that I could not see. The look of absolute horror that was on his face frightened me, but not as much as when he fell to the ground motionless. His body hit the floor and lay there, not even the movement of his chest as he would have breathed in and out was visible. My mouth fell open; I had never actually seen someone, let alone a friend of mine die. One of my friends was paralyzed, another’s wooden components was turning to goo, and now, a third friend was dead, all at the hands of this things I couldn’t see. Even worse, the only person who could see it was now dead. Another oath, (if we made it out of this I swear I’m finding some way to see the invisible) and the anger in me began to build. I shouted to the others that I thought Victor was dead and turned to face the corner he had last pointed to. Instead of nothing I saw a disgusting, withered, red-eyed thing staring at me. His hands were covered with a strange green slime.
I didn’t even have time to think as Bella raced past me to the corner where it stood. She took a swing at it and connected, planting her broadsword deep into the creature’s side. It howled and swiped its slimy claws at her. Bella dodged to the left as I ran to attack from the right. I swung at the hideous thing, but as I did it stepped back into the shadows. It reappeared a few second later on the other side of the room, near the door Raven had entered. Every so often there are those moments in life where time seems to grind to a halt, this was one of them. Bella and I could see the lich as Raven dashed out from behind the wall. We knew there was no way we could make it there quickly enough. Then again, I’m learning that maybe I shouldn’t doubt Raven. He rounded the corner and came face to face with the ugly thing. Without a moment’s hesitation, Raven used a classic feint, counter and then with his riposte, took out the damned right red eye of the ugly thing. It was a beautiful, fluid move and it left the lich crumbled into a pile of dust. I must steal…borrow that move for myself.
A momentary sigh of relief and a laugh were interrupted by Cast reminding us that Victor was still dead and Kiris was still paralyzed. Bella raced over to Victor and used one of Nerull’s Blessing to bring him back to life. While it worked, I can’t help but notice he seemed less somehow. I’m not sure and at this point I’m just glad he’s back among the breathing. That just leaves Kiris…and we should probably destroy the lich’s phylactery. Raven looked at the metal box he pulled from the other room and gasped. Again, another first. Apparently the locks on the box were ones that even he had never seen before, but this, of course, was not going to stop him. The first two seemed to open well enough, but that last one…well let’s just say it didn’t look like it was a pleasant experience. A green ray hit Raven and threw him back a few feet. He was shaken but smiling…he’d opened the box. Inside were a scroll of wish and a golden puzzle box. I stared at the scroll for what seemed an eternity. Kiris needed to be saved, and that scroll could do it. I know that our new little group has been through some interesting times, but could I ask them to give up something like this to save my friend…our friend?
Our former group had been through so much together; Cast, Kiris, Vex, Min, and myself: I knew without a doubt that we would sacrifice everything for each other, but do the others feel that way? Since we met these people we’ve blown up an airship, faced the horrors of Whitehearth (again), and gotten them trapped in another plane of existence. But does facing extreme danger (whether our fault or someone else’s) qualify one for friendship or just tolerance and reliance? Bella was hired by my uncle to “keep on eye on me,” though I’m certain there are days when she feels she’s not getting paid nearly well enough to deal with me. Victor has disagreed with Cast, academically mostly, but I still feel there’s something he’s hiding. I mean I may not know many mages, but I don’t think most of them create black shadows behind them when they fly. And Raven, whose company I find myself enjoying more and more, I know there are things he keeps hidden. Are we (am I) pawns in some rather well planned game he’s playing? I’ve been wrong about people in the past, and I know it’s not only come back to bite me but left wounds too deep to heal properly. I know I feel like they’re really close friends, if not almost family, but I can’t read them all that well yet. Would they be willing to give up such a powerful spell for Kiris?
Cast’s eyes met mine and he understood what I was thinking, but before either of us could ask, Raven handed me the scroll. “We need our cleric” was all he said. I looked to Victor and Bella who nodded. Victor said, “It won’t do me any good and we can’t leave Kiris like this.” They were all smiling. It appears in some ways I can read people as well as I thought. I handed the scroll to Cast who quickly cast it on her. In an instant she was standing and looking very bewildered. Cast hugged her and I’m not sure that helped her understanding much. As we filled her in on what just happened, she looked at Cast and was horrified. Quickly she used one of her spells to cure him of turning to goo. At least he didn’t ask to keep some to turn it into some new modification. When her brain registered that it was a lich who had attacked us, she turned in a panic to Raven and asked for the puzzle box. I’d never seen her work so fast. It took a mere moment and she had opened the box, dumped the ashes, cast a spell, and burned ashes, box, and all. We all looked at each other, exhausted, worn, and alive.
The room where the lich had hidden his phylactery would be an excellent place to rest for a while; the barrier would prevent anything evil from getting into the room and we would take turns watching the door for anything else that could walk through shadows. Cast usually takes all the watches, but as he needs to repair himself a little, the rest of us feel the need to help. As I stare out the crack in the door and finish my journal, I’m comforted by a few thoughts. First, I’m glad to have meet Bella, Victor, and Raven. They make life a little more interesting. Second, I understand that though we haven’t known each other the number of years I knew Min, Vex, Cast, and Kiris, there is still something that we share that bonds us together…other than the insanity that most adventures share. I like to think we would have been friends without nearly losing a priceless artifact from Xen’Drik. I feel the same bond with them I did with Min and Vex. The same one I still share with Cast and Kiris. Finally, I know now I am growing stronger. I’m finding my place, my own place. Not the one the House has spelled out for me. Not the one my father wants for me. Not the one that some day I might be forced into, but the one that is mine. I can be as fierce as the storm, as free, or as strong as the wind. I will find my way and be strong enough when I get wherever I am meant to go. But for now, I as tired as a…I’m too tired to even find an adequate analogy. Another night, another entry, another day closer to getting home; I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings.