8. Tyger Tyger
The eastern section of the second level was guarded by what I can only describe as human-shaped tigers with an unhealthy love of destructive magic. We had to dispatch several of the creatures - Enserric called them 'outsiders', but that meant little to me - and Tomi swore that they hadn't been there last time he had come this way with Linu. Luckily, our combative skills proved to much for them, and soon Tomi was leading us to another door. When he opened it, I noticed a group of rag-wearing humans milling around the room. One of them, a man, rushed towards me as soon as he saw me.
"The... the rakshasa in the other room are dead. Did... did you kill them? Are you... are you here to save us?" he asked, hope in his eyes.
"The rakshasa are dead," I told him. "But who are you?"
"My name is Shareesh, leader of these people. Or at least, as much a leader as any. You see, everyone here is a slave, a poor soul bound and forced to serve the mad wizard Halaster."
"You is slaves?" said Deekin. "That very sad. Deekin not believes in slavery. Unless masters want slaves to sing and dance and tell stories. That's what Old Master do with Deekin. That be okay, I guess."
"Sadly, our duties are far removed from singing and dancing. Halaster prefers other, more deadly, diversions. He enjoys watching adventurers die; that's why he created Undermountain. The rakshaka outside were supposed to protect us from the other creatures here in Undermountain. And to make sure we never tried to escape. Not that we could have tried, in any case. Halaster's magic bound us to this place. But now Halaster has disappeared, and the spells binding us here have faded."
"So now that I've killed the rakshasa, you're free to leave?"
"I wish it were that easy, my lady. But there are many terrible creatures roaming the halls of Undermountain, to say nothing of all the drow who have recently appeared. It would be suicide for us to venture out of these chambers. A few of us might escape these halls, but mose would never make it to the surface alive. But there might be another way for us to escape this place. There is a magic portal in this section of the dungeon, a back door if you will. Halaster built it as an emergency escape route. The portal can only be used by someone who possesses the proper activation stone. Without it, the portal is useless - a false hope to tempt and torture us. But if we could get that stone..."
"I have it," I told him.
"You have the stone? Quickly, give it to me so we can escape this place once and for all!"
Just as I was about to hand over the stone, I felt something moving in my pack. Smoke poured forth, and Volkarion stood before us.
"Forgive the intrustion," he said, "but I don't think you want to give the activation stone to these... hmm, what are you pretending to be this time, Shareesh?"
"This is none of your concern, you semi-sentient puff of wind! Get back in your bottle where you belong!" Shareesh hissed.
"I never liked you much, Shareesh. I'll go, but first I think this mortal needs to see you in your true form!" The djinni cast some sort of spell, and Shareesh began to flicker. An instant later it was not a human slave who stood before me, but a rakshasa.
"You will pay for this, Volkarion! After I feast on this human fool's flesh, I will bind you to my service for a thousand years!" rasped Shareesh.
"I'd be more worried about what this mortal is going to do to you, Shareesh. I'll be back inside my bottle if anyone needs me." Then he disappeared. Typical bloke, I thought. Show up for the fun then disappear when trouble starts.
Rakshasa were quickly added onto the long list of things about Undermountain that I dislike. The wizards amongst them were fond of calling down great storms of ice, which I had to dodge whilst trying to fight. I wasn't always fast enough, either. Several times, falling shards of ice grazed my skin. My newly found armour was quickly dented. I was livid.
Tomi and I fought back to back, whilst Daelan protected Deekin from the weapons of the inhuman beasts. The rakshasa weren't the best swordsmen in the world, but they had the advantage of numbers. Then, just when I thought that I couldn't stand to take another hit, the rakshasa before me fell backwards. A crossbow bolt had lodged itself in his eye, piercing his brain. And when he fell, no more rakshasa came forward to take his place.
"Thanks be to Lathandar," I gasped, painting for breath and bleeding from half a dozen cuts. "And to you, Deekin, for your good aim."
"Aww, Deekin just doing his bit, boss!"
"I've found Linu!" called Tomi from another room. I hadn't even seen him sneak off.
We found Linu's body stuffed inside a stone coffin. Her corpse was mangled almost beyond recognition. She literally looked like she'd been ripped to pieces. I had to resist the desire to empty my stomach at the sight of her, and my companions didn't look much better off. Still, I withdrew the rod of resurrection and aimed it at the corpse. I had to at least try, though I had strong doubts about the abilities of the rod to raise somebody this desecrated.
I couldn't bring myself to watch as the magic of the rod began knitting Linu's flesh slowly back together again. Instead I closed my eyes, and didn't look again until I heard her gasp air into her repaired lungs.
"Give her a moment to come around," said Tomi. "It messes with your head a little, dying and being brought back like that. Sorta like the morning after a night in a tavern... you can't remember where you are or who you're with. I remember this one time I woke up in such a situation to find some half-ogre looking lass lying beside me in bed. I tried to get away, but somehow me hands were tied to the bedpost. Don't really know how that happened, but I thought I'd make the best of a bad situation, so I..."
"Thank you, Tomi," said Linu, fixing her gaze on the halfling. "My senses have come back to me, and I have no desire to hear the rest of this escapade."
"How do you feel?" I asked her.
"Tired, aching and hungry. You brought me back dear, didn't you? Thank you. I should have sensed that there was something wrong about those slaves. But they turned into rakshasa before I could even act."
"I told ya there was something off about them, didn't I?" Tomi said. "But no, don't listen to ol' Tomi, what does he know? Instead, you sent me off to die at the hands of the drow, whilst your bleeding little heart got ripped to shreds by those rakshasa. It's like I always say... no good deed ever goes unpunished."
"Well we're both alive and well now, so I don't see what you're complaining about. Now, I take it that the way behind us is clear?" she asked. I nodded. "Good. If you don't mind, I'd like to return to Durnan's inn. I really can't face any more of Undermountain. And don't worry about me, I can find my way back without any aid."
"Actually, if you're willing to wait an hour or so, we have the activation stone for a portal that goes straight to Waterdeep. We can all go together. What do you say?"
"Very well," she nodded, and began helping us search through the plethora of rakshasa corpses for anything of use or value.
o - o - o - o - o
We were a bleeding and bedraggled party when we returned to Yawning Portal Inn. White Thesta immediately healed our wounds with her magic, though she could not take away the mental exhaustion that we felt. Durnan suggested that we rest for a while before returning to Undermountain, but I could not be convinced to stay. Every moment that Halaster was (hopefully) a captive of the drow was a moment where the dark elves and dwarves could move freely through Undermountain to launch their attacks on the surface. So Deekin, Daelan, Tomi and I returned to the darkness of the mad wizard's dungeon.
We had three chains in total; one recovered from the goblin corpse, one from the drow wizard who had inflicted so much damage for me, and another from the corpse of Shareesh. The only place we had not yet visited was the northern section, so we made our way straight there. Other than being goblin-infested, the northern section was unremarkable. We quickly carved our way through the masses of small goblin bodies, and retrieved the fourth chain from the corpse of the goblin leader. Feeling tired but victorious, we made our way to the locked door.
"There," said Daelan as he affixed the last chain to the pedestals in the centre of the floor. "Now what?"
"Deekin thinks there be something to do with that pool of swirling colours," said Deekin, jumping up and down by the pool in an attempt to see into it. Raised on a pedestal of its own, it was a little too high for Deekin and Tomi to see into.
"That's typical of a mad human wizard, you know," said Tomi. "No consideration for the vertically challenged adventurer in this modern day and age."
I pressed a button on the front of the pool, and colours appeared above the water.
"Purple, red, purple, green red yellow," said Deekin. Daelan and I pulled the corresponding chains as Deekin called out the colours, and the door in front of us opened with a loud click. Cautiously, we entered the room.
"Hey! How you get past them doors? Halaster always said there weren't no way past them once the chains was gone," said a monstrosity in front of me. It looked like somebody had stitched together body parts of a dozen random creatures to make something piecemeal.
"It be a flesh-golem, boss!" Deekin whispered to me. I smiled at him. He had obviously seen my confusion and decided to educate me so that I did not seem ignorant.
"I found the four chains," I told the construct.
"Found the chains and thumped them drow, I bet. That'll learn them. Halaster's gonna be real proud of you for that," it replied.
"How do you know about Halaster?"
"I know he made me. At least, he told me that before the drow captured him. And I got no reason to think he's lying seeing as how he's my dad and all."
"Halaster's your father?"
"What do you mean by that? Do you think I'm lying? I don't lie! Halaster is so my father. He even told me so. Halaster made me. Told me he sewed me together himself. I helped him run this place. Everyone used to be real nice to me. They used to smile and nod and say 'Hello, Berger'."
"People treats you nice when you gots big friends. That's why Deekin never has to worry when Boss is around!" said Deekin.
"The dark elves have Halaster prisoner, then?" I asked before Deekin could go off on a tangent.
"That's right. My dad's in the clutches of them... them dark skinned... pointy-eared... silver-haired... no good drow! Now they're after me, too! Ever since they grabbed up my dad, them drow have been trompin' around Undermountain wherever they please. That's not right. Halaster doesn't like people just marching around here. But they can't kill dad, or Undermountain will come crashin' down around their ears. So they keep him alive. And when he gets out, he's going to be mad. Then them drow'll be sorry!"
"Do you have a plan to free him?"
"Me? Uh...no. Wait! I could... no. Oh, I know! I'll just... no. I don't got no plan. I'm not real good at planning."
"Guess I'll have to come up with a plan on my own, then," I sighed.
"You will? Yippee! I know you'll do it, too. I can tell just by looking at you. As soon as he's free again, he'll take care of those dark elves! He'll make them sorry they were mean to me. Them and all the others. They'll all be sorry. Real sorry. He'll put things right, like before. Monsters in Undermountain will stay in Undermountain, and them drow will be booted back down to the Underdark where they belong!"
"Where is Halaster being held?"
"Down on the lower levels somewhere. I don't really know where. I been spending all my time running from the drow and the rest of the creatures here."
"Right. Well. You just stay here and try to keep out of trouble," I said.
"Don't worry, I will. Say hi to dad for me when you see him!"
"I thought golems were supposed to be mindless constructs," I said quietly to my friends as we made our way to the stairs at the back of the room.
"Clearly Halaster felt that a mindless construct was not enough, and found a way to imbue it with intelligence," said Daelan.
"Ha, if ya can call that bloody thing intelligent! A walking mess is what I'd call it."
"And that's why you don't have many friends, Tomi."
"Bah, friends are overrated! I have meself, and that's all I need."
"I hope Halaster is being held on the next level," I said to break up their conversation. "It feels like there's no end to this place."
"He's gotta be close by," said Tomi confidently. "After all, nothing goes on forever."
