Monday
27th December 356 AC
At the
advice of our priest and mages we moved away from the ominous door
once we had expressed our Yuletide thanks to the Gods, in case the
environment was inhibiting their recovery of magical energies. We
returned to our camp at the head of the pass and rested there for a
day and two nights.
Upon
returning to the tunnel and the iron door we resumed our attempts to
gain entry. Sir Dominic attacked it physically with youthful
exuberance (despite repeated warnings) and was rewarded with a
chipped sword and jarred joints. The lady Azshauna, seeing that he is
not to be reasoned with, muttered some unintelligible words and
clapped her hands soundly together – a moment later we found
ourselves the other side of the steel entrance.
The
cavern we appeared in was utterly silent and had the stench of death
about it.
Apparently
the magical barrier was dispelled by our entry so we lifted the bar
and opened the gate to encourage some fresher air through this fetid
place. The design of the doors, opening in rather than out,
immediately suggests that they were put in place to prevent exit
rather than entry. This is curious on many levels but particularly as
the locking bar and mounts would have had to be deliberately moved to
the inside for their current configuration. Evidently this complex
was not being used as its original purpose intended, perhaps the
magical barrier was a necessary addition to the defences reflecting
this fact. Sir Eurig may be able to shed more light on the mysterious
design of the fortifications here as that is something of a hobby of
his, I must remember to ask him when next we meet.
Around
the small cavern we found a dozen or so corpses, heaped
unceremoniously about. Bodies of men, goblins, draconians and other
races lay about – all dressed in the livery of the Dragon Armies.
The most conspicuous similarity in their appearance was in fact the
omission of the Green. Red, Black, Blue and White were all
represented among the dead but minions of the Green Dragon Armies
were nowhere to be found. The presence of so many different regiments
was indeed quizzical, also unnerving, as the agents of the Dark Gods
rarely like to work together and thus far found casualties have
tended to be of the same hue.
Since
transporting us there Azshauna had been scouring the area for
evidence of our enemies and had found tracks in the dirt (those that
Sir Dominic and I had not trampled in investigating the entrance).
According to her trained elven eyes a great many individuals had
recently moved through this passage. There were traces of human,
goblin, draconian and even a few ogre feet making their way out of
this tunnel. It suggested an exodus but perhaps a 'redeployment of
troops' would be the more appropriate term, as this was most likely
the staging area for the recent assaults on the local populace.
Quiet
until that point, Ulani suddenly announced that she knew this place,
that she had been brought here daily during her internment. Somewhere
within this rabbit warren of tunnels we would find the great metallic
pillar she had been forced to energise and perhaps we might even find
a clue as to its purpose.
Following
the most obvious tunnel to its limit we discovered a cage, not unlike
those found at the loading areas of Hargoth's docks. To one side
there were four levers – marked 'one', 'two', 'three' and the
uppermost marked with a red dot. We boarded the cage at Nedlog's
insistence, barely having time to discuss our course of action before
the mischievous rogue pulled the third lever and slammed the gate
shut. It is fortunate that my kender companion also had the foresight
to tie a tether to the 'return' lever (at least, what we presumed to
be so) as we could have otherwise been required to endure a long and
difficult climb to ensure our escape. Nedlog is a singularly
intelligent kender, often thinking ahead and in ways that others
would struggle to comprehend – I do, however, wish that she would
sometimes take a moment to explain her plans before she acts on them.
To this day I cannot even fathom where she found nearly a hundred
feet of coarse yarn.
With a
low groan the cage slowly made its way to the bottom of the shaft,
where we were greeted by a sorry sight indeed. The groans we had
heard were not the sounds of old ropes and pulleys under tension but
were, in fact, the tortured moans of a large troll, bound up in ropes
and chains to provide the 'engine' for the lift system. The dock
engineers of Hargoth are known to use strong horses and oxen to power
their cargo lifts but if I found a work animal in a state such as
this I would have the Harbour Master's head. The pitiful wretch was
bruised and cut, even missing a leg, and it simply stared blankly
ahead – the light of even primitive intelligence long since gone
from its eyes. Trolls are known to the knights for their regenerative
capabilities, so I cannot imagine what torturous magicks were
employed to keep the beast in its broken state. Evidently the enemy
that resided here saw no further use for their broken troll once they
had fled, content to leave it here to die. It says something, does it
not, about the nature of our enemy when their deeds can cause a good
knight to feel compassion for a creature of such base evil as a
troll.
Heart-breaking
as it was, we were forced to leave the beast in place until we
discerned the purpose of this complex.
Ulani
was unfamiliar with the cells and cages on this level so we made our
way back to the lift and pulled the lever marked 'two'.
This
level was instantly recognisable to the Silvan mage so we
investigated it thoroughly. There were a great many rooms of
differing size, almost all containing altars pledged to the
Skull-faced God and most holding broken shelves and scattered debris.
Indeed, the entire level appeared to have been hit by a tornado, it
seems that the dragon army forces decided to leave in a great hurry
and tried to destroy whatever they could not carry out. Eventually we
found the room with the metal pillar. It was a massive thing,
smoothed to perfection and reaching from floor to ceiling as if it
ran from the very base of the mountain all the way to its peak.
Brother
Ithariel suggested that we spend some time gathering what paperwork
lay about in the hope that something crucial had been left intact.
There was evidence that the foul clerics had been experimenting here
and we soon pieced together the focus of their research. They had
been experimenting on Paladins.
What the
end goal was we could not be certain of but the suggestion was made
that these agents of the Dark Queen could have been trying to create
Her own unholy warriors, Certainly since the Gods turned their gaze
back to the mortals of Krynn Paladine's Chosen Warriors have been a
beacon of light in the darkness for honest folk, not to mention a
constant thorn in Her wretched side. I can see why the forces of the
enemy would want to replicate the power they bring to the
battlefield. Full details of our discoveries have been included in my
report to my superiors for if we are right – a great threat could
be on the horizon.
Among
the scraps we also found notes from the foul Scranti. An ogre
war-band had been sent to Starsong's village (for what purpose we
could not discover) but they failed to return. When a second band was
dispatched they could find no sign of either the original invaders or
even the village itself. If the young Plainswoman hoped to find clues
to the fate of her people here she hid her disappointment well, for
all she found were more questions.
We
continued exploring, finding in one room two large vats of acid with
steel ropes running to the metal pillar. They look like what the
gnomes of Nevermind call 'batteries', though I cannot recall their
purpose. In another room I noticed a large glass case with a
Plainsman inside, he had been cut in half down his centre line and
preserved in some kind of clear jelly. Starsong recognised him as a
resident of a neighbouring village.
With
apparently nothing left to discover here we set about breaking the
altars and consecrating the area.
By this
time we were in need of a break, both physically and emotionally, so
we returned to the surface to eat and rest a while. After a short
lunch duty called us back inside the mountain.
We
decided to clear the bodies in the entranceway before venturing back
into the underground layers of the complex and made a rough count as
we piled them ready for burning. There were almost one hundred
corpses there of many different races. Only the humans and goblins
among them wore any armour and even that was rare, what emblems we
found marked them as troops of the dragon armies. It instils a
certain uneasiness to think that our enemy can wantonly slaughter so
many of their own men – what secret do they possess to make them so
certain of victory.
Even the
servants of evil deserve a chance at redemption, in the next life if
not this one, so prayers were said over them before we made our way
back to the one remaining unexplored level.
Here we
found ourselves in a corridor of many cells, though comfortable ones.
The air was dry and the straw in them seemed fresh. We continued past
them to find a passage leading downhill with one tunnel leading off
it and a Y junction after around five hundred yards.
Down one
branch of the junction we could barely perceive a low, indefinable
'hum' while the other was marked by a distinct odour. We chose the
second path and after sixty or so yards we greeted by a large
collection of rat trappers' cages, with dozens, if not hundreds, of
rat tracks in the dust. Not much further along there was an open
cavern and a bridge seemingly leading to a blank wall on the other
side. Far below the bridge was a living sea of rats, swarming over
each other like maggots and stirring up the stench of rotting flesh.
We retreated in disgust and investigated the other passage, which
terminated in a sealed metal door. The hum we had heard was much
louder here and obviously the source lay the other side of the door
so Nedlog produced a set of tools and set to work on the lock. Mere
moments later the door lay open, revealing a second door and a
curious security measure. With a “hmm” and an “uh huh” and a
bit of stroking her non-existent beard Nedlog finally announced that
the second door could be opened only when the first door was closed.
Sir Dominic immediately volunteered to investigate and Nedlog's
curiosity would not permit her to remain behind so they stepped
inside and closed the outer door.
Within
the 'hum' proved in fact to be the buzz of thousands of fleas, which
directly set about biting and nipping my companions' exposed flesh.
Through the swarm Sir Dominic could see a net and also the bones of
human children – picked clean by the insects. Cursing our foe, Sir
Dominic set the room ablaze with a flask of Ergothan Fire and escaped
the vile place.
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