Into the Maze
the Dark Fellowship
Chapter One
The dirt path wound under stunted trees below a perpetually overcast sky. Rain drizzled through a pitiful excuse for a canopy, causing faint ripples in the multitude of small puddles all over the exposed soil.
Saeral looked into one of those puddles. He saw something- another might have assumed it to be a fallen twig and moved on. Instead he tentatively plucked that something and brought it closer to his eye. Saeral had only recently returned to the adventuring life, having spent many years in a more official capacity of his sacred order, but experience returned to confirm he held bones from the ribcage of a humanoid being.
He handed the bones over to the ranger Eliados. Eliados observed the ribs had been chewed on, and recognized the kind of teeth that had done the chewing, "Harpies," he said to the rest of the group. All of them knew the creatures' most dangerous gift; Squire Jezlo removed one of several candles from his pack, from which he began to cut out lumps of wax.
The stunted treeline gave way to an eroded cliff rising high; about halfway up the cliff on a ledge rested a wide nest. From the edge of that nest one of ten harpies peered over to see three humans; ducking her head she caught the attention of her sisters, who looked to see for themselves. As none of the three looked up, the harpies decided they had the element of surprise; in unison they began a haunting song meant to numb the senses of their quarry and leave them incapable of action. When the humans stood dumbfounded the harpies descended upon them eager to rend with tooth and claw.
Only when the harpies got within arm's reach did they realize their error; the old but still strong human at the fore smote down one of the harridans with the maul he held in both hands. At the same time each of the two behind him cut down a harpy apiece with their blades; from within the brush crossbow bolts and arrows struck down two more- while a fireball spell exploded into the air, catching the rest in its blast radius and sending their smoking corpses crashing down. When no more appeared, the humans in sight removed the wax they'd plugged their ears with to defend against the harpy song, as did their allies in the scrub.
Eliados carefully scaled the rock wall to just above the nest; hanging from a piton he rummaged inside and threw what he found to the others below.
Most of the 'loot' the harpies had gathered over time amounted to a few body parts kept as trophies and weapons of less fortunate adventurers but a few rough gems were to be found; Saeral stared down at one such bauble then looked at Jezlo studying some electrum coins of unknown denomination.
Saeral threw down the semiprecious stone in disgust, "Enough! We have wasted too much time on these petty treasure hunts! Need I remind you all what task we were assigned with?"
"Nobody has forgotten anything," answered the wizard Frain, himself holding a tarnished bronze star with a rat's face chiselled onto it, "We're looking for clues just like you- if we collect a little wealth in the search, where's the harm in that?"
"Hey fellows," Eliados called from above as he lowered himself down the rock wall, one hand on the rope whilst the other hand held up a crown crafted from platinum with thirteen gems set inside, "Looks like at some point our feathered fiends here entertained royalty-" hearing a strange sound he looked up- his jaw dropped, the crown fell from his fingers. The others looked in the same direction he did- and beheld the same terrors.
As if it would make any difference Saeral hefted his hammer high, shouting to the others the last word he would ever say- "RUN!"
On reptilian mounts known as croltorm, four riders headed toward the city of Truscia. The rider at the lead wore a handsome human face to hide its true nature to the outside world; behind it a six foot tall insectoid rode alongside a muscled figure with outstretched ears and a bear-like nose, following them a dark-skinned elf in a heavy robe holding in his free hand a staff that used to be some*thing's* thigh bone. They slowed on approaching the gates; two guardsmen, upon seeing the 'human's' companions and readied their halberds to fight, a third emerged from within to address the four. The rider at the lead brought forth and showed him an opened envelope bearing the wax seal of the cathedral of Amaedea. The guardsman's eyes bulged at the thought of such bestial creatures having legitimate business with the church but he merely nodded and bid the halberdiers to let them pass.
The four riders slowly trotted across the city streets; a few passers-by gave them strange looks but otherwise the locals left them alone. Garadon, the doppelganger assuming human form looked around, "The last time I was here was before that wizard imprisoned me in his vault," he reflected, "To look at it nothing seems to have changed."
"You sound surprised," Kezreck, the tall, brutish-looking one behind him said.
"He was trapped there for about two centuries," the elf at the rear pointed out.
The dark elf Shoutanei was the one who had found Garadon at said vault. Fainting from blood loss suffered in combat with human thieves and left for dead; the shape shifter's failure to guard the enchanted armour it was tasked with protecting had driven it mad but had also undone the wizardry that barred it from leaving, even if the magic that kept it from aging somehow remained. After convincing his priestess sister to heal the changeling's shattered mind Shoutanei enlisted its aid in ridding himself of his hated siblings and their soldiers, directing them toward another vault inhabitant that turned out to be more than they could handle. In the days since the two had left that place Garadon, remembering the year of its capture had inquired to humans the-then current date- suffice to say how much time passed between them was a shock.
"See those people there?" Garadon pointed toward a long line composed mostly of humans except a few other humanoids- all of them in faded or low-quality clothing- assembled at the docks, "Those are the city's unemployed, awaiting their ration of grain brought by those ships," he indicated several barges approaching from even farther away.
"Grain for doing nothing?" Kezreck grunted, "They should let the bums starve."
"I suspect the bums would riot before they starve," Shoutanei guessed.
Finally the four found the cathedral that had contacted them. The captain of the temple's security recognized them and led the group to the high priest's chamber, albeit with a nasty scowl on his face the whole time.
As they sat the high priest addressed them, "Thank you for coming. On occasion I have spoken with King Alsadar IV; he has spoken highly- well, perhaps not highly- but he has affirmed you four did achieve results."
The second and to date the last time the human king had met with the four was to pay them for bringing in a company of surface dwelling adventures that had succumbed to lycanthropy. At the time Alsadar had convinced himself the werewolves were still noble souls whose condition drove them to savagery against their will- only when the four finally brought them in did he learn how far they truly fell. It was said during their trial the former werewolves contended to have done their bloody deeds under 'dark elf bewitchment'- their subsequent hanging and the fact no one came after the four seeking retribution suggested they had not been all that convincing in their claims.
The high priest continued, "Some centuries ago the celestial Sophiel took on a task for our lord"- he gestured to a stained glass pane showing two hands extending from a cloud- "But never returned to his grace.
"Occasionally in the years since, those of our faithful set out in the hope of discovering Sophiel's fate and perhaps delivering him from it- why we sent for you concerns the most recent of these expeditions."
"Not to sound rude to potential employers," Kezreck started, "But if this Sophiel's fellow angels couldn't find him and bring him home, what chance do a few priests got at pulling it off?"
"Indeed," the temple captain spoke up, "However, unlike those before them who amounted to little more than chasing their own tails, these seemed to actually get somewhere- in their last report they heard of something called 'the Maze'- whatever this maze was, it involved Sophiel somehow, they were certain."
"Their last report?" Shoutanei inquired.
The high priest held up a medallion etched with the church's symbol- identical to the wax seal on the missive he had sent to the four, "Our clerics- and the adventurers hired to provide them assistance that could not be found here- kept in touch with us through these medallions; they function in a matter similar to sending stones. We heard from them at regular intervals at first, but it has been over two weeks since their last communication."
"Seems to me these guys are dead," Kezreck speaking up again, not seeming to notice the dirty looks his companions gave him for his absence of tact, "But you don't think it's that simple- do you?"
"We regularly commune with our lord," the high priest started to answer, "If our faithful had fallen and gone to their reward we would have learned as much - they have not. So either they still live-"
"Or they have fallen and something has barred their souls from reaching this paradise," Shoutanei deduced, "If not worse."
The high priest solemnly nodded, "That is why we have sent for you, we would hire you to learn of their fate and if possible, rescue them- one way or another."
At that point the high priest and the four negotiated. A fee for knowledge of what befell these faithful was agreed upon; following Alsadar IV's example the high priest offered higher pay as an incentive to either bring back the missing clerics and their cohorts alive or help their souls return to the welcoming arms of their deity. The temple captain provided a map leading to where the clerics had last reported from, a starting point for any investigation.
Finally the high priest gave the four the medallion, "Show this to our faithful and they will know we had sent you to deliver them."
"Or they'll think we killed one of your priests and stole it," Kezreck quipped.
The temple captain glowered but the high priest did not, "Because I give this to you willingly you are safe- you would not like to learn how it punishes thieves."
With that the four left the cathedral; after briefly stopping at the market for whatever supplies they might need they rode away from the city, in the direction of this mysterious 'maze'.
At first the search was unproductive; the area they came upon was unsettled except for a few farming villages and few of their inhabitants would willingly talk to a man travelling with a drow, bugbear and whatever they thought Path-Chak to be. Even fewer had heard anything about missing clerics or any maze.
After getting nowhere asking the local humans Kezreck suggested the four seek answers from an alternate source. Tethering their mounts near a dirt road the bugbear crept carefully into the brush with his companions following.
Before them rose a hill, its summit crowned with the ruins of some forgotten structure; to Garadon it was vaguely reminiscent of the remains above the vault Shoutanei had rescued him from. Kezreck pointed out faint paths up the hill- and the concealed entrances into it, likely dug by his smaller goblin cousins.
Not too long after a hunting party of the creatures emerged from one of the concealed entrances, five goblins wielding crude bows, with rusty knives on their belts. They headed into the forest, unaware that the four was tailing them.
When both groups had gotten far enough from the hill that the rest of the goblin tribe would hear any sounds of distress Shoutanei preformed a sleep spell, dropping all five of the runts. As the induced slumber would only last a minute the drow's companions moved quickly to disarm the goblins and bind them hand and feet. The humanoids awoke shortly after, shifting from confusion to fear and then rage in record time.
"Now there you runts," Kezreck addressed them in their native tongue while raising his mace, "We didn't come here for a fight…"
"Answer our questions and we will release you unharmed," Shoutanei promised them- also in the goblin language.
"Yeah that's ri-" Kezreck turned to the wizard and said- this time in common, "Hold up- you speak goblin?"
"We tried to teach our slaves to speak drow," Shoutanei explained, "But the goblins could never get some of the sounds right."
Kezreck speculated those slaves bungled the dark elf speech on purpose but that was beside the point; turning back to his puny cousins he spoke, "Some humans might have come around here- looking for someplace called the maze- you runts know anything about it?"
The goblins looked to each other, then eventually admitted none of them had encountered any humans, however they might know where they went. Some distance from their home was a hill with a tunnel complex dug into it presumably by the 'big folk'- according to their tribe's previous generations humanoids occasionally seeking a place known as 'the maze' sought it out- but they knew of none that ever returned from it- the goblins themselves considered this reason enough not to go poking around there. They gave the four directions to this hill; Garadon cut one of the goblins loose and handed the creature back his knife. The four departed as that goblin set about freeing his comrades.
The goblin's directions led the four to a hill with a gaping cave entrance; past it one winding, main tunnel descended, with the occasional smaller passage branching to dens that may have once been home to other creatures, though all were unoccupied at the present. The main tunnel led into a large chamber, empty except for a door frame in the centre of the room. Only the frame stood, it had no door or any hinges to suggest one might have existed in the past.
The four looked upon this frame nervously; it seemed a little too innocuous, especially- if the goblins spoke true- no adventurers had returned from the tunnel that led to the chamber in which it stood.
"We should have brought one of those goblins with us," Kezreck commented, "Thrown him though the frame and see if anything happened."
"Indeed," Shoutanei inwardly felt dismayed at not thinking of the suggestion when they had the creatures bound but Kezreck's musing did give him an idea, looking to Garadon he suggested, "Shoot an arrow through it."
Garadon complied, the projectile soared through the frame and bit into the dirt wall on the other side, with no obvious effect on it. Feeling a little disappointed, the thief stepped toward the frame to retrieve his arrow- and vanished entirely on crossing its threshold!
His companions reacted with shock. "Garadon?" Shouatanei called out for his comrade, "Garadon!" Lifting his mace high, Kezreck lunged toward the doorframe before the others could stop him- he too disappeared.
Shoutanei and Path-Chak locked eyes- one hoping the other had an idea; finally the drow gazed back at the frame, "I never thought I do something this stupid," he said, then stepped toward the frame, the thri-kreen following behind…