Posted: 30 January 2022 (reading time: 9 minutes; 1843 words)
Recap by Joel Hermann
Time had once meant something to him. He remembered that much from when he lived. Anxious hours searching the stream bank for poison toads and black-water spiders while waiting for his mother to return. The endless droning of his teachers at the scribing school to which she’d eventually sent him. His eager fascination at the unfolding mysteries of the cult he was introduced to by one of his more charismatic teachers.
It would not do, to dwell upon it. There was the ultimate prize, still to be won.
But now, he senses those simpering mortals who seek the key too. On top of everything, from the annoying–but occasionally useful–treasure seeking fools, all the way up to his constant suffering in undeath, this indignity of this competition is almost too much to bear!
He looks up at the walls that catalog his attempts–his failed attempts–to call forth the new age, the age of his rebirth into the glorious new form his Master has promised.
Before returning to his next sacrificial subject, already positioned on the altar at the center of the room–he picks up a worn, bloody brush and slowly, in bold, clear strokes, writes of his only remaining purpose…
In the moment following Vyshka’s radiant bolt, and the curse of frustration that follows, both she and Laguza see her target briefly turn his head toward the adjacent wall.
In the room behind them, Belnirith rings a dolorous bell, and Greunthrn fires two arrows into the remaining Ogre Skeleton near the spot where the monstrosities were first encountered.
Seeing an opportunity to press the attack, Laguza pushes forward into the tower basement and engages the last Ogre Skeleton guard, cleaving it apart in three mighty blows, then advancing to the near side of the altar with the mysterious skeletal figure just beyond it. He reaches out and speaks into Laguza’s mind “Why not let me summon the Old Ones and find some peace.” But the force he calls upon fails to connect.
Vyshka advances, along with her spirit guardians, into the tower basement and strikes him with her thrown Smárnr as well.
Just then, a shadowy figure enters from an alcove and fills those in the room with horror. It assaults Laguza with its eyes, filled with seething hate. Her flesh burns with the intensity of it, and she cries out to her companions.
Belnirith and Greuthrn leave the Ogre Skeleton, and advance to help their friends. A parting bell toll from Belnirith fails to fell the receding foe, and Greunthrn only has eyes for the new horror ahead, firing two arrows into it.
Laguza, perhaps realizing the new creature that so hurt her serves her original target, moves around the altar to engage the undead spellcaster, and hits him with a blow from her mighty axehammer, Klókr.
He says, “You fool, if I don’t bring them back, she will.” He attempts a spell to pull the very water from Laguza’s body, but she is able to mostly shrug off his efforts.
Vyshka is unable to command the skeletal warlock to grovel, and her telekinetic slap of pique does not affect him in the slightest. While she is unsuccessful there, she is the first to notice a strange consistency to the bodies littering the floor.
The hateful horror-servant advances on Laguza, but briefly catches Vyshka’s eye as she scans the room, and it’s her turn to burn in a way she never thought survivable. The baleful creature then rounds on Laguza and punches her.
Yli speaks again, in a voice both angry and despairing, “The living man will bring them, the living woman will bring them.”
Belnirith calls upon the remnants of a previously summoned meteor swarm and a bolt of radiant energy to take out the horror, which later research reveals to be a Bodak. Greunthrn fires two arrows into Yli’s decomposing form, and Laguza finishes him off with a well-placed axehammer strike. Belnirith then rounds on the remaining Ogre Skeleton and ends its existence as well.
Coming down from the adrenaline rush of combat, some of the group realize that the bodies littering the floor of this particular room are all orcs. Those corpses and decaying scrolls cover the floor in roughly equal measure. Picking up the most prominently positioned scroll, they are amazed to see the giant rune that they’ve seen time and time again in their adventures: from the cult dungeon in Blustrom to the recent, burned-out wagon on the road to Vogsal.
Turning to their original purpose in coming to this horrible place, they collect what coin they find for Vali, and examine a few useful or beautiful objects for themselves. Greunthrn notices some Abyssal graffiti on the wall, some worn by time to almost invisible. It is notes on experiments, and expressions of frustration and fury, culminating in one boldly written statement of purpose.
I won’t let him bring the gods here, and I won’t let her bring the gods here. It’s my honor, and mine alone.
There are immediate conjectures among the group as to who might be meant by the mysterious “he” and “she” in the writing. Yli spoke of a living man and living woman! Does this mean there are rivalries between those intent on bringing back the Horrors? And if so, can they be exploited to stop the worst from happening? Belnirith has the sinking feeling that she knows the answer to at least one of those many questions.
As soon as they finish a cleansing ritual for the tower that she and Belnirith agreed upon, Vyshka flies off in a fit of rage. No one is quite sure why, but she spends time briefly summoning bonfires in and around the ruin, and then retreats to meditate in a nearby tree.
Belnirith gives Yuki’s portal stone to Laguza with hardly a word and journeys through dimensions to the hut of her mentor. Once there Belnirith is full of questions, most about her mother, Aegnagryd, “We need to find my mother. She is a key figure in the gap between the realms. We’ve seen elder gods and such but nothing of my people, the devils.”
Yuki’s intuition is that Aegnagryd will always be amongst the powerful, as that is what seems to attract and drive her. Though she also mentions that Belnirith was the only being that her mother valued, in and of herself. She also says, regarding the devils, “The demons and the old ones must have killed them or scared them away.”
Upon Belnirith’s return, the group briefly chats about the meaning of what they have seen and what she has learned. Vyshka asks Belnirith about her relationship with her mom. Belnirith’s reply is, “I may be the only thing she values because I came from her, but I wasn’t what she wanted.”
On that somber note, they rest until morning in what appears to have once been Yli’s private quarters, after performing another ritual of cleansing.
As they leave the ruin the following morning, they find a powerful and somewhat aged orc sitting on a log near the entrance. They carefully approach and Greunthrn hails him, saying “May we be of service?”
The orc responds, “You killed him? He’s been taking people from my village. Is it true that he was trying to bring back the Horrors? What’s wrong with you humans?!”
Greunthrn lamely tries to apologize for humanity at large, while the other three try to vouch for this particular human. This just makes the orc round on Vyshka saying the only things worse than humans are elves. Vyshka’s temper flares again and she begins to summon a thorn whip to teach this orc a lesson in manners, but Laguza knows how to deal with the orc and insults him back. He then indicates his respect for the dwarves.
Belnirith steers the conversation back to what the orc wants. To their surprise, given his attitude so far, he wants to thank them for killing Yli. Further, he’s had a dream, of Vali’s forces fighting Torvald’s and Vali and his troops lying dead on a battlefield. He passionately hates Torvald, who has turned his people into refugees and convinces his subjects that it’s creatures like orcs that are the cause of their troubles. The orc indicates that he could be convinced to have his tribe’s warriors join in the fight against Torvald, if he can be convinced that this Vali fellow is worth the risk, that he’s not a typical human scum.
Greunthrn, Belnirith, and Laguza share their experiences of Vali as a man whose first concern is for the people he governs, and particularly about the Frost Giants joining in the fight, as that seems similar to this elder’s dilemma.
Something in the conversation causes the orc to assert that in the distant past his people actually used to be elves, but through hideous abuse by an evil power they had been deformed into their present condition. Vyshka, a bit mystified, and with few social skills, suggests that maybe his people could breed with the elves and become beautiful again, leaving pretty much everyone speechless and a little bit horrified.
Belnirith wisely changes the subject and asks the orc’s name, Graklak. She then introduces the others (except Vyshka, who declines to share her name, either from residual anger or embarrassment).
Graklak indicates that the group will know whether he’s decided to assist Vali when they reach the base of the Shadowlow Mountains, in a day and a half.
After he leaves, Vyshka takes a moment to compose a spell of sending to Osk, “Got enough coinage. Might have orc support.”
A reply comes back in a short while: “Put down minor rebellion. Morale is generally high. Looking forward to your return. Orc? Support??”
The return trip passes without incident, and waiting for them at the base of the mountains is Graklak, with 200 orcs. He is ready to commit his people’s fiercest warriors to ending Torvald’s rule and preventing the Horrors from returning.
The throng follow Asgarday∂a the rest of the way to Vogsal, and find the Frost Giants playing with the huge stone dice that “Little Giant” made for them. Graklak continues into town with Belnirith, Vyshka, and Greunthrn. Near the gates they pass ten corpses hung from the walls. They surmise that these are the rebellion leaders, and later learn that some call Vali too soft for not using a more intense form of punishment, the blood eagle.
At the main longhouse, Graklak is introduced to Vali who, appreciating the gravity of Graklak’s offer of support, once again reiterates his commitment to a just rule, by Thing, where the orcs will have a voice in governance as well. But Vali notes that prejudices that have been fostered under Torvald won’t go away overnight, and Graklak’s people may face hate and fear, even from some of the people they have come to assist.
Vali also shares the news that an emissary from Torvald appears to be en route, and will arrive soon.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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