Session VI: Underground Nightmare
“I can’t say for sure how I feel about how my life has been going in these passed days. I truly do believe that I am making a profound difference in the world and making Detris a better place, but I cannot help but feel that all of this is some horrid nightmare. I care for my friends more than anything; I wouldn’t trade the peaceful moments by the fire that we have shared for the entire world. I can’t help but wishing sometimes though, that I had my old life wandering the forests in tranquility.
“The worst part of all of this are not the unspeakably awful beasts that we have slain, it is my mixed emotions toward Scios and my father’s murderer Krainus. I have been very quiet about the entire thing, but only because I don’t have the slightest idea what to think. Ebon sees good and evil in people like the rest of us see colors, and he swears to Vo and our friendship that Krainus has changed his ways, but I still see the blood on his hands and the guilt on his soul. Scios says that he never stood for the idea of murdering my father, but I can’t imagine how he would not catch on to his family’s evil. Then again, I suppose if my family were ever to commit such an atrocity I would refuse to admit they were capable of such a thing. If only Redwyn were here, she could sort all of this out…
“Last night made me want to curl up into a ball and cry. The horrors of these twilight affinities are beginning to take a toll on my sanity. Yesterday began on a surprisingly good note. We wandered around Eberus and lived an almost normal life for a few hours, until Kranek the bounty hunter came to us again. He told us that he found, without a doubt, the main base of Nadoor Vulnoor. I hadn’t seen Nadoor face to face, and I wouldn’t until later that night but from Ebon’s description the mere thought of returning to the sewers to face his main force made my skin crawl.
“After a few preparations we were ready as we would ever be to trudge into the underground sludge again. Without a moments hesitation Ebon, followed closely by Cinder and Scios charged into the dark entrance with reckless abandon. I consider Semish to be fortunate, for it seems that his race has much less testosterone than the other men of our group. Our first targets were too men standing guard. One of them was old; the other looked hardly a day over sixteen. They fell to the ground with little effort from us, and when we paused to think up our next move we were startled by the ground shaking with thunderous footsteps.
“Coming from a large opening in the sewer wall, a mummified ogre lurched forward slowly. Though all of our eyes were clouded by fear, Ebon gave us the resolve to press on simply by seeing his unshakable resolve to slay such evil. A flurry of arrows and spells, and the beast stumbled toward Cinder, who ended its empty existence quickly by exhaling a plume of flame. We charged through the dark corridor, when we quickly glanced at one another nervously. The rough hewn cave was lit with moonlight. Several small cracks in the earth above let enough pale blue light very dimly illuminate the cavern. As soon as we realized this, we were ambushed once again by several more of the twilight monstrosities. These beasts had pale yellow skin, glowing yellow eyes and teeth far too large for their drooling mouths. They appeared emaciated, and their chests contained a large shard just like all the others we had faced.
“The fight was hard, especially since they had a strange undead creature that was unbelievably strong with them. Though many of us were banged up, we knew we had to press on further. A few more stragglers, and my extremely honed elven senses gave us no time to rest. Without error, I heard the disgusting slithering of maggots behind a ten foot wall of stone and packed dirt. We charged around the wall after Semish used his healing magic on those of us that needed it, and were greeted by the most horrific sight I have ever had the misfortune of laying my eyes on. Standing among hundreds, perhaps thousands of small maggots was a twilight affinity dressed in slimy full plate armor, his face a tangle of eye stalks and strange, insect-like facial features much resembling his maggot companions. I almost vomited when my eyes adjusted to the dim light and I saw three maggots nearly four feet long slithering toward us with a nauseating sound. He held up his spiked chain and spoke to us in a strange, guttural voice, “Makume will destroy you all.”
“Scios was the first to react. With a few simple gestures, a small seed of fire floated to Makume an exploded into a thirty foot circular inferno. The small maggots were burned away at once, but Makume and his stronger minions stood firm. Cinder and Ebon charged, each sundering a maggot in two. We all almost keeled over in disgust as they exploded with mucus. Cinder moved to assault Makume, and though he was being torn apart by bites and chain, he did not let up. Arrows met flesh, spells burned flesh and steel clashed against steel. When all fell quiet though, all of us stood and Makume and his insect companions lay dead. It’s such a strange thing to watch a twilight affinity die. As their heart begins to stop, the magic in them slowly leaves and they become what they were before the transformation. Makume was bald, filthy and covered in scars.
“We knew that the only one who remained was Nadoor, perhaps with some guardians of his own. The only way into the last unchecked room was a narrow corridor, no more than five feet wide and seven feet tall. We knew we were stepping into a trap, but all of our eyes burned with a vengeful rage. When we entered his room, it was surprisingly stark in furnishings. A simple, queen sized bed sat in one corner while a dresser and a mirror sat in another. A plain rug was on the floor, though the floor was dirt so for what reason I couldn’t say. Nadoor transformed was a hideous sight to behold, but compared to his second in command Makume he looked like Scios after a bath. Guarding him was four strange, dried out humanoid husks that stood just over three feet tall. Semish identified them as undead water elementals, and warned us to not let them touch our flesh for they would drain the liquid straight out of our bodies. The battle raged on for what seemed like an eternity, but the worst part had to be when Nadoor flung a lightning bolt down the narrow corridor, hitting nearly all of us. When his protectors were gone, Nadoor stood little chance against the martial prowess of Cinder and Ebon and he was quickly slain. I was overjoyed to be able to leave that horrid place.
“After we left the sewers (and bathed quite, quite vigorously) we found that Kranek had no more leads, and Krainus was only just beginning his search of the Trade district conspiracy involving Naiveen and her unknown followers. We decided that we would all take a personal day come morning. I decided that I would need two things: More skill as the specialist of the party, and more connections on the foul city of Eberus. I had heard of the Red Knives thieves’ guild before, an honorable band of thieves that steal from the evil and unjust and defend the poor. I decided I would try my luck and see if I could join their organization.”
-Fera Radia, Heir to the fallen house Radia
“The worst part of all of this are not the unspeakably awful beasts that we have slain, it is my mixed emotions toward Scios and my father’s murderer Krainus. I have been very quiet about the entire thing, but only because I don’t have the slightest idea what to think. Ebon sees good and evil in people like the rest of us see colors, and he swears to Vo and our friendship that Krainus has changed his ways, but I still see the blood on his hands and the guilt on his soul. Scios says that he never stood for the idea of murdering my father, but I can’t imagine how he would not catch on to his family’s evil. Then again, I suppose if my family were ever to commit such an atrocity I would refuse to admit they were capable of such a thing. If only Redwyn were here, she could sort all of this out…
“Last night made me want to curl up into a ball and cry. The horrors of these twilight affinities are beginning to take a toll on my sanity. Yesterday began on a surprisingly good note. We wandered around Eberus and lived an almost normal life for a few hours, until Kranek the bounty hunter came to us again. He told us that he found, without a doubt, the main base of Nadoor Vulnoor. I hadn’t seen Nadoor face to face, and I wouldn’t until later that night but from Ebon’s description the mere thought of returning to the sewers to face his main force made my skin crawl.
“After a few preparations we were ready as we would ever be to trudge into the underground sludge again. Without a moments hesitation Ebon, followed closely by Cinder and Scios charged into the dark entrance with reckless abandon. I consider Semish to be fortunate, for it seems that his race has much less testosterone than the other men of our group. Our first targets were too men standing guard. One of them was old; the other looked hardly a day over sixteen. They fell to the ground with little effort from us, and when we paused to think up our next move we were startled by the ground shaking with thunderous footsteps.
“Coming from a large opening in the sewer wall, a mummified ogre lurched forward slowly. Though all of our eyes were clouded by fear, Ebon gave us the resolve to press on simply by seeing his unshakable resolve to slay such evil. A flurry of arrows and spells, and the beast stumbled toward Cinder, who ended its empty existence quickly by exhaling a plume of flame. We charged through the dark corridor, when we quickly glanced at one another nervously. The rough hewn cave was lit with moonlight. Several small cracks in the earth above let enough pale blue light very dimly illuminate the cavern. As soon as we realized this, we were ambushed once again by several more of the twilight monstrosities. These beasts had pale yellow skin, glowing yellow eyes and teeth far too large for their drooling mouths. They appeared emaciated, and their chests contained a large shard just like all the others we had faced.
“The fight was hard, especially since they had a strange undead creature that was unbelievably strong with them. Though many of us were banged up, we knew we had to press on further. A few more stragglers, and my extremely honed elven senses gave us no time to rest. Without error, I heard the disgusting slithering of maggots behind a ten foot wall of stone and packed dirt. We charged around the wall after Semish used his healing magic on those of us that needed it, and were greeted by the most horrific sight I have ever had the misfortune of laying my eyes on. Standing among hundreds, perhaps thousands of small maggots was a twilight affinity dressed in slimy full plate armor, his face a tangle of eye stalks and strange, insect-like facial features much resembling his maggot companions. I almost vomited when my eyes adjusted to the dim light and I saw three maggots nearly four feet long slithering toward us with a nauseating sound. He held up his spiked chain and spoke to us in a strange, guttural voice, “Makume will destroy you all.”
“Scios was the first to react. With a few simple gestures, a small seed of fire floated to Makume an exploded into a thirty foot circular inferno. The small maggots were burned away at once, but Makume and his stronger minions stood firm. Cinder and Ebon charged, each sundering a maggot in two. We all almost keeled over in disgust as they exploded with mucus. Cinder moved to assault Makume, and though he was being torn apart by bites and chain, he did not let up. Arrows met flesh, spells burned flesh and steel clashed against steel. When all fell quiet though, all of us stood and Makume and his insect companions lay dead. It’s such a strange thing to watch a twilight affinity die. As their heart begins to stop, the magic in them slowly leaves and they become what they were before the transformation. Makume was bald, filthy and covered in scars.
“We knew that the only one who remained was Nadoor, perhaps with some guardians of his own. The only way into the last unchecked room was a narrow corridor, no more than five feet wide and seven feet tall. We knew we were stepping into a trap, but all of our eyes burned with a vengeful rage. When we entered his room, it was surprisingly stark in furnishings. A simple, queen sized bed sat in one corner while a dresser and a mirror sat in another. A plain rug was on the floor, though the floor was dirt so for what reason I couldn’t say. Nadoor transformed was a hideous sight to behold, but compared to his second in command Makume he looked like Scios after a bath. Guarding him was four strange, dried out humanoid husks that stood just over three feet tall. Semish identified them as undead water elementals, and warned us to not let them touch our flesh for they would drain the liquid straight out of our bodies. The battle raged on for what seemed like an eternity, but the worst part had to be when Nadoor flung a lightning bolt down the narrow corridor, hitting nearly all of us. When his protectors were gone, Nadoor stood little chance against the martial prowess of Cinder and Ebon and he was quickly slain. I was overjoyed to be able to leave that horrid place.
“After we left the sewers (and bathed quite, quite vigorously) we found that Kranek had no more leads, and Krainus was only just beginning his search of the Trade district conspiracy involving Naiveen and her unknown followers. We decided that we would all take a personal day come morning. I decided that I would need two things: More skill as the specialist of the party, and more connections on the foul city of Eberus. I had heard of the Red Knives thieves’ guild before, an honorable band of thieves that steal from the evil and unjust and defend the poor. I decided I would try my luck and see if I could join their organization.”
-Fera Radia, Heir to the fallen house Radia