Dungeons & Dragons/Saltmarsh
Episode 23
Major Ursa swam them up through the water, with the grace and efficiency of a shark. Triton swam just as well, as he and Elgoth managed to drag Borassos through the water. They rose up through the deep, and it wasn't long before the floor of the sea rose to meet them. At first it was a change in the hue of the water, then the tops of long ropes of seaweed swayed around them. Finally, Rev could feel the pulse of the waves as the light glittered above her through the shining surface. She broke through, then swam on her own, pulling herself with the crest of the swelling waves, and using that energy to carry her to the shore.
White sand churned through the roiling waves as Rev stood in the shallows and marched through the waves toward a small but sandy beach. After wringing out her braid, she reached into her bag for her hat and boots, glad that the box with the shard was no longer inside it.
The sun felt good on her back. She didn't realize how cold she had been, so deep in the water. The others emerged from the waves and gathered together on the beach. Major Ursa strode onto the beach and addressed them as her golden eyes peered up at the smoke rising from the top of the hill.
"This beach is the only place that is accessible on this island," she declared, gripping her harpoon and making a motion toward the rising cliffs to either side. "The rest is surrounded by high cliffs and rocky shoals. The pirates land here, but this beach is guarded. Stray off the right path, and dead things in the sand, rise to kill you. I do not know the way through the dunes, but I do know that the pirates start right here." She pointed to a rock just above the water line.
"How will we know the way?" Merantha asked.
Ruanea was busy wringing out her skirts again near the water. Elgoth pulled Fitzmina out and let her fly, but all she saw was sandy dunes leading up the hill.
"I think I can find the path," Borassos said as he stepped forward. "I can attempt to feel the presence of the undead." He placed a hand over the crest he wore around his neck. The light around his hand shimmered as he stepped forward. Rev shared a glance with the others, pulled her swords, and followed him single file.
Borassos moved slowly, holding his free hand out and sweeping it in front of him as he held on to his sacred crest. Occasionally the sand next to them would ripple, but they remained safe as he wove through the dunes. They made it about fifteen paces until he set one foot forward, and a bony hand shot out of the sand to grab his ankle.
The sand around them bubbled and shifted until six skeletons rose out of the dunes and shambled toward them, clattering old rusted swords as the wind off the sea blew the sand off their tattered rags.
They immediately fell into battle, and it didn't take long before all six skeletons fell in heaps of bones in the sand. Borassos was especially effective with his hammer. As the last skeleton fell, Rev shook the ribs off her cutlass.
"You are using great teamwork!" Major Ursa shouted from the waterline. "You should have no problem."
"I take it, she isn't going to help." Rev looked back over her shoulder and noticed that Ruanea wasn't with them either.
"She is more of the managerial type," Triton explained.
Borassos seemed shaken at his misstep and attempted another one in a different direction. Once more the sand shimmered as arms and skulls rose out of the sands.
They fell into battle again. Merantha shot her blasts in two different directions and Elgoth had to duck. "Be careful how you part my hair," Elgoth shouted back at her as the skeletons fell beneath their blows. Rev managed an artful dodge and emerged from the two scuffles with little more than a scratch. She brushed a trail of blood off her shoulder like it was nothing.
They could see the top of the dunes where the trail became rocky and led up the hill. "Skeletons aren't so bad. Keep going, Borassos. We can see the end of the path just up there."
Borassos squinted and held his hand out again. He found the safe path another eleven paces, and then on the twelfth, the ground began to shake. They immediately formed a circle with their backs to each other. Rev stood shoulder to shoulder with Elgoth as all of the skeletons buried in the sand rose at once.
They had to number in the hundreds. As they came up the beach, they formed into three swarms, while another group clasped bony hands to dried femurs and spines, until they pulled their skeletal frames together into a giant construction of bones. Rev stared in horror at the skeletal juggernaut that ran toward them.
"What sort of priests live in this Abbey?!" Elgoth exclaimed.
"Evil ones!" Triton shouted back over the clatter of bones.
"No, I am impressed." Elgoth's icy scimitar gleamed.
One of the swarms of skeletons pushed forward and engulfed Rev and Elgoth. They turned and pressed back to back, so she could feel his shoulder blades against her back, a solid comfort as the bones assailed them. Elgoth shouted something to her, but she couldn't hear it over the clattering of the bones. She only caught the edges of the words, "Only… Skele.."
Then the juggernaut reached them and collapsed into a wave of bones that crushed them. The dried bones battered Rev like an angry mob wielding clubs. They pummeled her as the bones broke over her and the clattering roar grew so loud it felt like her ears were bleeding. The bones swept back like a retreating tide and reformed into their monstrous construction.
Borassos raised his hands and glowed with a golden light. About half of the skeletons froze, then turned and walked away into the dunes.
Merantha clasped her crystal amulet as the remaining swarm engulfed her and Triton. Rev flipped her cutlass around and then slashed the Juggernaut's leg. One of the skeletons forming the leg broke apart, and another lost an arm.
Elgoth attacked the Juggernaut with a furious attack, turning into a whirlwind of cold blades while Triton transformed into an enormous white bear. He rose on his hind legs and roared. The juggernaut took two swipes at the beast, but missed as Triton fell back down on his front legs.
Merantha pushed out of the swarm of skeletons and held the ring that she took from Fitzmina's body aloft. Her eyes turned white and glowed with an eerie light as the juggernaut turned to her, and went still, transfixed by the magic of the ring. Energy flowed toward Merantha through the strange psychic connection, leaving them all to deal with the last of the swarm of skeletons.
Fitzmina flew by, trailing green smoke, and several of the skulls forming the body of the Juggernaut turned to follow her with their empty gazes. Rev supposed Fitzmina was even attractive in death, to the dead at least.
Triton slashed at the juggernaut with his claws, knocking several bones out of it, then he clamped on a skull with his wide jaws and crushed it. As the juggernaut weakened, more bones fell off of it. It seemed to shrink as bones rained down.
Merantha maintained her connection and the juggernaut fell apart, but the skeletons forming it rose as individuals and surrounded them numbering at least a dozen.
"Where is a fireball when you need it?" Elgoth called. "Ruanea!"
But she was nowhere to be found.
Rev again came in close next to him. "We're winning, right?" he said to her.
The skeletons surged forward and battered all of them with relentless attacks. Rev ran through the skeletons to attack the swarm around Merantha cutting them down with brutal swipes of her blades.
Triton growled at Elgoth and made a 'come hither' motion with his paw.
"Elgoth, get out of there!" Rev shouted at him. She had a feeling that Triton was preparing something dangerous. At the very least Elgoth was completely surrounded, and for whatever inexplicable reason, she cared about the surly elf.
"I'm doing fine!" he called back, but as their eyes met, he must have seen her desperation because he let out a huff and retreated toward them. He shoved his way through the skeletons until he came next to her and they stood back to back once more. "Happy now?"
"Yes," she admitted.
The clouds formed overhead, and as the bear roared, a bolt of lightning struck the ground right where Elgoth had been standing. She felt him stiffen behind her as the thunder rolled over them. Two of the skeletons turned to dust and Triton transformed back to his normal self.
Borassos followed Triton's lightning with a wave of thunder that swept out from him. A few more skeletons crumpled. Skeletons still swarmed around Merantha. Two more attacked Borassos, but he let out a sharp blast of power as he was hit, and another skeleton crumpled, but he wavered on his feet. Then a skeleton hit him, and Borassos fell.
"Borassos!" Rev shouted. The skeletons attacked her, but their blows glanced off her. Rev pushed through the skeletons and reached Borassos, singing her healing song to him as she pulled his shoulders into his lap. He blinked up at her as he gasped, and she gave him a nod. Rev left him there, pushing to her feet.
Triton and Elgoth continued the battle around them. Triton called down a second bolt of lightning. More of the skeletons turned to ash as the swarm crumpled. Borassos pushed himself from the ground and unleashed a mighty swing of his hammer, sending a spray of bones flying in front of him. Merantha followed his swing with her blasts, and the swarm collapsed.
Rev and Elgoth became a fury of blades, while Triton called down another bolt of lightning. All the skeletons fell asunder, except for one final one wavering on his bony feet. Merantha blasted it, and the clatter of bones finally fell silent, leaving only the rushing pulse of the waves behind them.
Triton yelled back to Major Ursa. "The beach has been secured, sir."
"It took you long enough!" she shouted back. "I shall report to King Neptune. Good luck!"
Just then Ruanea wandered up the path, still fussing with her wet skirts as they clung to her legs.
"Where have you been?!" Rev called to her.
She looked confused, as if she were completely unaware of what had just transpired, then gingerly stepped through the masses of bones. "I had a crab in my shoe. It refused to leave."
Exasperated, Rev climbed up out of the dunes and sat on a rock. She heard a familiar voice behind her sing, "But crabs do linger in the grass!"
She swung around. "Bastard!" He flew down from a pillar of what must have been an old gate and landed on her knee. She stroked a hand down his green feathers as the pain of the wounds she had suffered from the skeletons eased.
"Hi!" he greeted with his fiery irises blazing.
"Well at least he had no trouble crossing the beach," Elgoth muttered as they all sat down to rest. They could smell the smoke from the abbey on the wind. Rev pulled some rags out of her sack and bandaged the worst of her bruises as she looked around.
Tendrils of smoke rose from the blackened walls of the former abbey. The roof was gone, and parts of some of the walls had collapsed. It was hard for her to believe that pirates alone caused such damage. She wondered what they were after. The island itself was a miserable rock. Every tree had been cut down, leaving a graveyard of stumps around the high hill. The priests must have been here for a very long time, and foolish about managing the island's resources. It was no wonder that they had to trade with cutthroats. That proved their undoing. Still, why did the pirates choose to attack now? The abbey was certainly hiding something, but the temptation would have to be great to destroy a reliable source of easy income for a band of cutthroats. Rev didn't like the timing. It was clear after their encounter with One-Eye the goblin, that it wasn't just sahuagin after these shards, or the things that could reveal them. Again, she never trusted coincidence.
As the last of their party came up into the rocks, the skeletons reformed into individuals from the bones they had left strewn through the dunes. They walked off, spreading out across the beach before lying down and sinking into the sands. Rev shook her head. The chess board had been reset. She didn't want to risk crossing the skull dunes again.
"There is someone standing on the cliff, far in the distance," Ruanea declared as she shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun. Rev stood and joined her. Sure enough, a dark form swung some sort of line over the cliff to the sea below, then hauled it back up.
"Is he fishing?" She crossed her arms.
"Oh! Stinky Mitch does not like fish," Bastard sang. "He would not eat a single dish!"
"He seems awfully calm for standing near the ruins of a burned abbey that was just attacked by pirates," Elgoth observed. "Should we scout this individual out first?"
"They may interfere with our attempt to loot the abbey otherwise." Triton stood next to Elgoth and crossed his arms, watching the mysterious figure on the cliff. "I'm curious to see what they are doing when there is a burning abbey behind them."
"If they make themselves bothersome, we can cut their throat and feed them to the fishes," Elgoth suggested.
"That would make them somewhat difficult to talk with." Triton shook his corded hair back over his shoulder.
"There are ways." Elgoth's voice took on a creepy tone as he brought his fingers together and turned to Fitzmina floating next to him.
"The last thing we need is another floating skull about." Triton looked askance at both of them.
"Oh, have it your way," Elgoth sat on a rock and swiped at a bleeding wound on his forearm, then licked it.
"We can't all fit under Rev's cloak and sneak in that way," Ruanea lamented.
Actually, that wasn't such a bad idea. "Maybe one other person could." There was some room under the cloak after all.
"I could turn into a snake or a spider, and scout for us," Triton offered.
"And get eaten by a bird. I'll send Fitzmina to scout ahead." Elgoth snapped his fingers at Fitzmina and she turned to him but didn't float closer. She kept her jaw clamped tight in what might have been an annoyed expression. "That is, if she's feeling cooperative. She's been much more skull-strong these days. Go scout ahead, witch, and tell me what you see."
Fitzmina reluctantly flew high into the bright sky, the white of her skull melding with the glare of the sun. As she drifted away, just before Rev lost sight of her, a seagull dipped down at her, then tumbled through the sky and flew away as fast as possible.
Elgoth stared into the distance for a minute or so with his arms crossed. It didn't take long for Fitzmina to come bobbling back as if she were tired from such a long flight. She drifted down and floated next to Elgoth. "What did your dead eyes see, witch?" he asked her, his arms still crossed. She opened her toothy jaw. Elgoth scowled. "I don't care about the damn birds or their pecking… Yes, I'm very proud of you… You have seen much worse… Yes you have. I looked into your eyes as I plunged a blade through your breast!" Fitzmina closed her jaw and dropped down in a sulk. "I order you to tell me what you saw," Elgoth insisted. He nodded a couple of times. "Were they human, elf? Were they Twisted Rune?" He nodded again.
Elgoth turned to the rest of them. "Fitzmina says that there are three elves on the cliff and that they are hauling up water in a bucket, then purifying it with magic. She says that they are not members of the Twisted Rune, but a different branch of the order called the Contorted Sigil. They broke off from the Twisted Rune, preferring to focus on religion and prayer instead of arcana and magic as lesser intellectual beings are wont to do, no offense Borassos."
He shrugged.
In the distance they watched the men wander back toward the abbey.
"Do you know how these people would react if we were to approach them peacefully?" Triton asked with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Probably not well," Elgoth admitted.
"How would the Twisted Rune have reacted?" Rev asked.
Elgoth let out a sigh. "Enslave us. Harvest our organs. Tie us to stone alters covered in arcane sigils. Slowly drain us of our blood to use in dark magics, and then give our souls over to the litches." He ticked off each thing on one of his long fingers.
"Very well then," Rev said brightly.
"Battle it is," Triton agreed.
Rev placed Bastard on the rock, and he proceeded to preen his tail. "I can use my cloak to sneak around the perimeter of the abbey looking for traps and things. Triton, if you are willing to change form into a spider, you can come along in my pocket, in case we get into trouble. We can rendezvous with the rest of you near the entrance of the abbey." Rev reached into her pocked and produced a small wooden box with a filigree lid. It once held a ring her father had given her mother. "You can hide in here, so I don't accidentally crush you."
Triton disappeared, and a minute later, Rev felt a tickle on her wrist. A tiny blue and green spider crawled across her hand and tucked through one of the small holes carved in the lid of the box. Rev placed Triton in her pocket, tucked her hat into the bag of holding, and drew her cloak's hood over her wild streaked hair. She felt better knowing Triton was tucked in her pocket as she crept around the abbey. They passed by some tended gardens still growing food. Luckily they had escaped the destruction. The stones of the abbey walls were still hot from the fire, but Rev detected no traps and heard nothing. A minute later, they watched through a ruined window as the three elves dressed in acolyte robes struggled to carry buckets of water. They descended through the ruins into some underground chamber, a cellar perhaps. She rounded the back of the abbey and met the others at what used to be the abbey's entrance. "All is quiet," she reported. "They appear to be making camp in some sort of cellar beneath the abbey.
Ruanea inspected the worn path to the cliffs where the acolytes had gathered the water. "We could set an ambush."
"You know me. I prefer a more direct approach." Elgoth drew his swords.
"Or, we could mound a bunch of dirt over the cellar opening and come back in three months," Borassos mused.
"As much as I like the viciousness and cruelty of that act, I would prefer something more expedient." Elgoth appeared to give the suggestion careful consideration. "But I like where your head is at."
"I can sneak down the stairs to see what I can spy," Rev offered. She took out the little box. "Are you willing to come with me?" Rev asked, and a tiny spider leg waved through the holes in the lid in an encouraging manner. She placed it back in her pocket and crept down the stairs.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she pressed her back to the stone wall of the stairwell and placed her feet carefully on each tread. A small bit of stone broke off one of the steps and clattered down to the cobblestones below. She could see the flicker of some sort of firelight, and heard the rumble of unhappy male voices.
"Why do we always have to fetch the water?"
"Because that is the way of it. You do the women's work, and we do the men's work!"
Rev placed her hand on the hilt of her daggers and was tempted to rush down the stairs and teach whoever said that the meaning of 'women's work.' Instead she allowed her cooler head to prevail and crept back up the stairs to report to the others.
At the top of the stairs she pulled the box from her pocket. Triton emerged, then suddenly appeared next to her. "There are several men, but they seem engaged in menial chores."
"If they don't seem dangerous, perhaps we should make contact with them and ask them what we came here for." Elgoth looked contemplative, then his face brightened. "And if they don't talk to us, then we slit their throats!"
"We can say we saw smoke coming from the island and that we are here to assist," Rev suggested.
"If they see the markings on my face, they will recognize me as a cultist." Elgoth looked around. "Do we have any way of disguising my appearance?"
Rev had an idea. She took her old non-magical sack out of her magical bag and pulled one of her daggers. "If we cut eye-holes in this, you can wear it over your face. With your long sleeves on your coat, they won't see any of the other tattoos."
"You wish for me to wear a bag over my head?" He looked at her, incredulous. "After battling monsters, and pirates, and sahuagin for weeks, this is the most sophisticated solution we can come up with?"
Borassos touched one of the burned walls, then rubbed his fingers together. "We can cover your face in soot."
Elgoth snatched Rev's sack. "I'd rather wear the bag." He cut two hasty holes in it and pulled it over his face. "I love this plan."
Bastard flew up to them and landed on Rev's shoulder. He took one look at Elgoth and let out a laugh. Rev grabbed his beak as they all fell into line on the stairs behind her. As soon as they reached the bottom step, Rev noticed at least three men hunched in a corner gambling. The group of acolytes were pouring water into a barrel and washing dishes near a fire in the corner. She didn't see any women.
Rev took one step back, pulled her braid loose, fluffed up her hair, and opened the collar of her shirt. She knew one way to cause chaos, and a bunch of men trapped alone on a miserable island might just take the bait. She pinched her cheeks, then boldly entered the room. "We saw the smoke from the beach, thank the gods there are survivors here!"
Several things happened at once. The acolytes let out a surprised squeal as one of them dropped a water pail. The guards immediately jumped to the ready. One of them stared at her breasts, while the other, standing somewhere behind him, drew his sword. The third, who stood a whole head and shoulders taller than the others looked angry. "Hold there and surrender!"
"I am no threat," Rev announced, making no move to her blades, and pitching her voice into a very innocent and feminine tone. "I could see that a great misfortune has happened here, and as a victim of terrible misfortune myself, I have only come seeking to aid anyone who has survived here. This island seems to be a dangerous and difficult place." Somehow she made herself sound helpless, even though it went completely against her nature.
The big guard stomped to the center of the room. "What do you want, wench?"
At the word wench, Rev shifted her weight in a way that gave a seductive tilt to her hips as she brushed her hair from her face and blinked at them, making her eyes large and as innocent as she could manage. "We fell upon hardship and came upon the beach desperate for water, but our party was attacked by skeletons. We barely managed to survive, and then saw the ruined abbey. We feared for any following a holy calling here. How could anyone do such a vile thing, attack sacred ground?" Rev took a step down.
"Stay on the stair where I can see you, pirate!" the large soldier shouted.
"We have water here!" one of the acolytes offered, dipping a cup in the barrel and hurrying forward with the expression of an overenthusiastic puppy on his face. The guard stiff-armed him.
She turned to the acolyte and looked up from under her lashes. "I am very thirsty."
The two other guards moved to flank the stairs. "We'll have no more of pirates! I take it you have a ship?" The guard shouted. He was a mountain of a man, though didn't seem very quick witted.
As soon as he said the word ship, two more people entered the room. One wore long red robes with a large gold medallion around his neck. He was elvish, with white hair, and a hunched posture for one of his kind. The acolytes scrambled back. This was clearly the head of the order. He addressed the guard, "Ogmen, what is going on out here?"
A second person emerged and stood near the wall. It was another elf, with dark brown hair and a lute slung over one shoulder. Could he be a bard? He froze when he saw her. He seemed confused for a second as his forest gaze locked with hers. Then he quickly averted his eyes. He made no move closer, but he looked up again, clearly interested in what was happening.
A third person came out of a door behind the stairs wearing the cult's vestments. "What is it, Osemodeus? What have you fouled up now? Who are these pirates?"
"We are not pirates!" Rev protested, still holding her hands in a placating way. The entire room fell silent, and everyone stared at her. "Was it pirates that attacked this place?" Rev asked. "They can be such horrible villains."
The white-haired priest came forward, and the gladiator took a step back. "Oh, my dear, my dear, not pirates you say?" He folded his hands in his copious sleeves. "But you look so piratical."
"Where's the rum?" Bastard called. Rev grabbed his beak again.
"We are but humble merchant sailors who have come upon some misfortune ourselves." Bastard pulled his beak out of her grip and hissed as he raised his hackles. "Our ship was attacked by pirates ourselves. It may have been the same bloodthirsty crew that laid waste to this abbey. I fear our ship is no longer seaworthy after the attack. We barely made it to this island."
"Oh, my dear, how horrible for you. Please come down." He motions to her, pushing the guard out of the way.
The other elf priest scowled. "Osemodeus, you fool. Clearly she is a pirate. She has a parrot."
"Actually, he's a curse," Rev stated.
"Oh hush, Odium," Osemodeus motioned to her. "Come, you must be parched. Come have some water."
Rev didn't trust them. They seemed genuine, but she didn't trust her instincts. Rev started coughing and wiping at her eyes. "I apologize, the smoke is in my eyes. Can we go outside to speak."
The big soldier immediately headed for the stairs. Rev and the others backtracked and spread out at the top. At least here they had room to fight should something go wrong. As they reached the top of the stairs both sets of parties seemed to size up the other.
One of the guards pointed at Elgoth and shouted. "They've got a leper!"
"No, no! He's not a leper!" Rev waved her hands in front of her as an over eager acolyte ran up the stairs.
"I know what to do!" he called as if he had been waiting his whole life to meet a leper, just so he could use his skills.
"He's not a leper!" Rev insisted. "He is just very ugly!"
"I don't know if I am ugly or not, mistress," Elgoth said in a crackling voice that sounded like a very old man. "I am Anthony Baghead. I was cursed by hags over fifty years ago, when I was but a lad, and forced to wear this for all time. It was an evil hag that affixed this to me. It can never be removed. All manner of magic has been tried. All has failed."
Triton snorted.
"Why must you mock me?" Anthony pleaded. "I lead a wretched existence. It is a blighted life." As he tugged on his sleeves he insisted. "I am most assuredly not a leper."
Osemodeus looked at him in pity. "There is a curse about you. I can sense it. You poor afflicted soul."
"Yes. mine is a benighted existence." Elgoth hung his head and the sack wrinkled sadly. "My heart is filled with woe and anger. I was such a beautiful lad too. Only the gods know what lies beneath this bag now."
Osemodeus shook his head sadly and looked out at the horizon. "I do not see your ship."
"Oh dear," Rev said. "I fear it may have sunk."
Ogmen gave her a suspicious scowl and gripped his sword. Borassos moved closer to Rev and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Osemodeus reached out and grabbed Ogmen's hand. "Stay, Ogmen. Is that a cleric I see? What sort of deity do you worship?"
"Talos," Borassos said with his usual loquaciousness.
"Ah yes, the evil god of lightning. Strong choice. And did he drop you from the sky?" Osemodeus looked out at the shoals that were too rocky and shallow for a ship to sink.
"The truth is we were mutinied and marooned here to die," Rev admitted, letting all the latent emotion from having actually been mutinied seep into her voice. "I fear the crew knew of the skeletons in the beach and hoped that they would have finished us off."
He nodded, this time believing her, though Ogmen didn't seem to buy it, and kept his weapon at the ready. Osemodeus headed back toward the stairs. "I see you have been through great troubles. You will not find much respite here. We ourselves have been stranded on this island for..." he counted on his fingers, "Twenty-five years, though it is our servitude to our god that keeps us chained to this island so we may protect our god's treasure. And we have had to resort to trading with sailors such as yourself for these last several years." He said the word sailors with a knowing look. "But alas, treachery at every corner. Every generation of sailors such as yourself ends the same. It is no matter."
"We know how it is to be betrayed," Rev stated. They were here for one thing, the kraken. Frankly, these clerics could keep whatever else they were hiding, she didn't care. If they didn't harm her, she wouldn't harm them. If they tried to stop her from taking the kraken, there might be a problem. They would have to cross that bridge when they came to it. They didn't seem disturbed by the idea of another pirate attack, and that confidence worried her. But, if like the Twisted Rune, they were keeping the kraken for nefarious purposes that would lead to the deaths of those in Saltmarsh, the Lizardfolk, or the sea kingdom, then whatever happened here would be justified. Besides, it sounded like they wanted to be free from the burden of all of it. Rev would be glad to relieve them of the burden, be it treasure or young monstrosities.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rev spotted the bard climbing the steps and working his way along the back of the crowd until he stood next to Triton.
"Come, come, we shall go inside and rest. There is much work to be done to restore the abbey in the morning."
They followed the cultists downstairs, where the acolytes prepared a small chamber for them to rest. Rev checked to make sure the door couldn't be bolted from the outside before they lingered inside of it. After securing their chamber, they mingled around in the main room of the cellar. The guards tended to follow Rev around, and while she didn't exactly encourage it, she didn't discourage their attention either. One of the acolytes kept mentioning about how heavy the water was to carry, while the soldiers bragged to each other about their weapon prowess whenever she was within earshot. The only ones that didn't seem to seek her attention were Osemodeus, who seemed busy, Odius, who was put out because it became clear that the room they had cleared out was his, and Bayleaf the Bard, who seemed to be actively trying to keep anyone from noticing he was there. That was strange behavior for a bard, and it made Rev wary.
The cultists ate a meal on the floor, and their party retreated to the room they had offered. As soon as they shut the door, Triton whispered, "The bard says that there is more here than it seems. He's willing to help us for a price. He wants to meet tonight, in the ruins. I could use your persuasive skills." Triton nodded to Rev.
"I'll go with you," Rev agreed. She liked the idea of working with Triton as a team of sorts. The others could get their rest and rejuvenate their magic. She was just as effective with her blades whether she was tired or not. Though the deep bruises from the battle with the skeletons still bothered her. Besides, she wasn't sure she trusted this other bard, and wanted a chance to size him up.
In the wee hours of the morning, Triton turned into a spider and crawled out of the room. Rev opened the door slowly in an attempt to stifle the squeaking hinge. One lone guard sat near the fire with his back to the door. Rev tip-toed toward the stair. As she reached them, the little box fell out of her pocket and clattered across the stones toward the guard. Rev dashed over to it and swiped it up from the ground, then turned and ran up the stairs as the guard let out a choked snore.
When she reached the top of the stair, she saw Triton standing with the elf bard in the moonlight. All of Rev's flirtatiousness was gone. The elf seemed both confused and intrigued at the complete change in how she carried herself. Rev crossed her arms, letting her fingers linger on the hilts of her swords.
"Ah, it is good to see you. I am a training instructor for the guards," he said.
"You," Rev stated. "The bard."
"Ogmen wished for me to teach them resistance to magical effects, like sleep. They haven't proven very adept at the skill," Bayleaf admitted. He had a cool an aloof aura about him, a little like Ruanea, but the corner of his mouth twitched up at his admission. "I am not one of the devoted…" he lifted his chin, and Rev saw a flash of the elf haughtiness that she was becoming more and more familiar with. "Or stupid," he added. "I am tired of being on this island. If you can get me off this island, I can help you find the treasure from the tunnel."
"What sort of treasure?" Triton asked.
"The priests guard a treasure in the deepest layers, but if you don't go that deep, there is plenty of treasure in the tunnels. However, it is guarded."
"What guards it?" Triton asked.
He paused, and it looked like he paled, or it could have just been the shift of the moon from behind a cloud. "I do not know. Others have gone after the treasure. None has ever returned. None but the priests. That's why no one is concerned by your presence."
Rev wasn't entirely sure he was being forthcoming, but she had had a bad day, and she was exhausted. She didn't fully trust her judgement in these matters.
"I did see them bring the treasure in to the abbey over twenty years ago," he whispered. "There must be over ten thousand in gold and gems down there."
"Do you know the layout of the tunnels?" Triton asked.
Bayleaf shook his head. "I only know the secret passage to the tunnels,
"That would be good to know," Rev said.
He held up one elegant finger. "But I am going to need safe passage off this rock."
"We may be able to help you with that," Triton admitted.
Bayleaf turned to her. His eyes were dark in the night, but held an inner fire of elf magic that burned with a green spark. Rev waited for a moment, and the yawning silence felt endless.
"Triton does not lie," she admitted, and found her heart thudding heavy in her chest. She did not want to trust him.
"I can show you the entrance to the tunnels, and if you make it back out with your pockets stuffed, I will help sneak us out of this godforsaken cellar to the beach. How would you get us off the island?"
"We may have magic means." It was something Rev didn't want to admit, and she felt the slight weight of her bag on her hip, the Salvation hiding within it.
Again, the slightest of smiles brushed the elf's lips. "That is what I was hoping you would say. Can you get us out of here without going through the sand dunes? Only Osemodeous can safely traverse the dunes. They are cursed."
"We noticed," Rev muttered. "If there is a way down the cliffs, or a secret way it would be safer."
"The only way in or out of the tunnels is through the room right next to yours. There is no safe way down the cliffs." A flash of hopelessness crossed Bayleaf's expression. In that moment he seemed young. It was hard to tell with elves, but for most, twenty years wouldn't seem like a long time, unless that was a good portion of the life they had lived thus far. And getting involved with death cults was the sort of impulsive thing a younger elf would do.
Rev looked around. The ruins were all around them, including a large broken door hanging off its hinges. The fire had singed it, but not destroyed it completely. "Unless we take a door and levitate it in the manner that we used to make the baboon king fly. Ruanea can stand on it and take half our party with her, so much as she can safely carry. She can lower it down the cliff and out to the shoal. There we can board our ship, and she can continue the spell back up the cliff to retrieve the rest. Thus we make our escape."
Bayleaf's expression brightened. "I believe this could work." He held out his hand. Rev clasped it. It was a promise made.
Rev broke away, and together, she and Triton returned down the stairs. "Now how in the seven hells are we going to fit a baby kraken up these stairs," Rev whispered.
"Let's not overthink it," Triton suggested.
They reached the others, roused them from sleep, and together quietly entered the room next to their chamber. Rev left Bastard sleeping on the back of a chair. The room beside theirs was a meditation room, with heavy black tapestries on three of the walls, and on the fourth a mural of a red dragon devouring sheep, and other things.
The bloody depiction gave them pause. A table had been pushed up to the mural, and though it had been scrubbed and scoured, it still bore several suspicious stains and scorch marks, along with two gold candle sticks holding burning candles dripping red wax like blood. A half-melted statue of a red dragon sat between them.
"See," Elgoth stated as he pulled the bag from his face. "They are only being nice so that they can sacrifice us here later. This is more like the Contorted Sigil that I knew of. None of this sharing stew and inviting strangers into your home."
Rev found the secret door hidden beside the altar thanks to Bayleaf's instruction. They pushed it open to reveal a short hallway leading to a second chamber just beyond. Rev couldn't detect any traps and stepped carefully into the hall. She peered into the new chamber and saw Five corpselike figures guarded a door, their faces painted in gruesome colors.
Two massive skeletons, with horns sprouting from bovine skulls, flanked the door. Each carried an enormous rusted axe. Alongside the minotaurs hovered two specters and a small halfling-type creature contorted with evil. Rev rushed into the room and attacked both of the minotaurs at once, then retreated back into the corner as Elgoth entered. One of the minotaurs bellowed and charged between them. Rev saw the axe swinging for her, but there was no room to move. It cut through her as pain radiated through her entire body. Weak and dizzy, her blood spilled over her hand as she struggled to find safety. She was vaguely aware of things fighting and moving around her, but all she was aware of was the rushing of blood in her ears, and the hot feel of it on her hands as it spilled from her body.
Through the chaos, Elgoth looked as if his arm were rotting like a zombie, and Rev gasped as Borassos pushed through to reach her. One of the specters screamed at him but he laid his hand on her shredded abdomen. It glowed, and the wound began to stitch together. Rev clung to his hand as the specter hit him.
There was a clatter and shouts from the main part of the Abbey. Osemodeus raised his hands and spoke to the specter. The medallion glowed around his neck. The specter immediately backed away. The other undead creatures also lowered their weapons and returned to their positions guarding the door. He turned to them. "What are you doing in the Winding Way?" he shouted at them. "Ogmen, take them!"
"To arms! To arms!" the bear of a man shouted. Suddenly all the guards pushed into the meditation room.
Rev dragged herself back into the meditation room next to Ruanea and tucked herself behind the tapestry holding herself ready for the moment she could reach one of the attackers. The sounds of battle clattered in the small room. While Borassos had healed her enough that she could stand, she was still badly injured, and now afraid. They were trapped. Rev stabbed out through the fold in the tapestry, hitting one of the guards next to Elgoth. He crumpled to the floor and Ruanea was able to retreat to the corner of the room.
Rev felt a wave of heat and heard the roar of fire as an explosion of fire engulfed all of the guards. They screamed as they fell, turning to piles of ash. They could hear Ogmen's flesh sizzling as he roared at them.
A bolt of lightning shot through the room, and Rev got tangled into the tapestry. For a second she felt her muscles seizing, then she felt nothing.
At first, all she saw was a golden light. Then felt the wind on her face, the warm sun. The smell of the ocean surrounded her as the deck swayed softly under her feet. She looked up and saw the silhouette of someone, a woman, at the helm of a ship. Her long dark hair blew in the wind. The sun shone behind her, so Rev couldn't see her face. She squinted into the light as she reached out from her place near the rail. She let go of the rail and reached toward the captain at the helm.
The deck shifted, and darkness closed in around her. She felt a pull, then a rush, as if she were being dragged under by a powerful tide. When she opened her eyes, Merantha had her by the hand.
She was alive. Pain wracked her.
Damn it. Now she owed Merantha a debt.
Rev remained curled on the floor but looked around. Death and chaos reigned everywhere. She looked in confusion toward the other room. A pack of wolves were attacking the priest, knocking him to the ground as they swarmed over him in a wave of writhing fur. He screamed.
Rev wasn't sure what happened, but the wolves appeared to be on their side, so she held her wounds as she curled into a tighter ball. The priest released another bolt of lightning, but Ruanea held her hands out and the bolt shot back then dissipated.
Rev stood and stumbled forward. She looked at Osemodeus. "You were right, we are pirates," she proclaimed as the wolves growled and snapped their bloody jaws.
Elgoth ran forward and gutted the cultist. He fell.
They all looked warily at the undead guardians at the door. Borassos came forward and took the medallion from around his neck. It immediately glowed purple in his hands. He stood and placed it around his neck.
The undead backed away.
Author's note: This was one of the funniest and scariest games in this entire campaign. First of all, as I have mentioned, Elgoth is our best roll player. When we came up with the plan to put a bag on his head to hide his tattoos, the resulting bit of roll play had us laughing so hard, I couldn't breathe. Elgoth's player said that he might revive Anthony Baghead as an actual character in the future. I didn't put in one fun little bit of teasing because it just stopped the flow of the story. When "Anthony" said he was filled with woe and anger, Triton contracted it to "Wanger" and that has become a running joke. Rev very nearly met her ultimate end in this chapter. She was still wounded by the skeletons when the minotaur hit a particularly nasty crit against her. When it was followed by the lightning bolt, she came within 9 points of an instant kill. It got my attention, to be sure. I'm glad she didn't die tragically. That would make ending the rest of this pretty awkward.